At least eight migrants drowned in a shipwreck on the Greek island of Samos Immigration News

Six children died in the disaster, the police found 36 survivors alive in Samos and three were rescued.

The Greek coast guard has found the bodies of eight migrants, including six children, who drowned on the island of Samos, authorities said, in the second sinking of a migrant boat in the Aegean Sea this month.

Greek police found another 36 people alive in northern Samos on Monday, and three people, who were stranded on the island’s rocky shore, were rescued by coast guard officers, the coast guard said.

A Greek security official said authorities were alerted to the incident by a non-governmental organization and estimated that around 50 people were on board the ship.

It was not immediately clear if anyone else was still missing. They did not know the nationality of the people on the boat.

In another incident that took place on the island of Lesbos, an old man died when a group of 27 migrants fell on a small boat, said the coast guard.

Greece, in the southeastern corner of the European Union, has long been a popular gateway to Europe for migrants and refugees from the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

More than a million people crossed from Turkey to the eastern Greek islands in 2015-2016. Many have drowned while attempting the perilous journey in flimsy boats.

The number of arrivals later fell before rising again last year.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has estimated that around 54,000 refugees will arrive in Greece in 2024, the second largest number in southern Europe after Italy. Most of the people came by sea.

However, many people have died while making the dangerous journey due to rough seas and the use of unsteady boats.

In early November, four people died in a similar boat accident near the island of Rhodes. In late October, two people also died in a boat accident near Samos.

Greece’s Transport Minister Christos Stylianides said that Greece’s priority is to eradicate human trafficking networks that put profit above the lives of innocent people.

“I want to express my deep sorrow for the loss of eight people, among them six young children,” he said in a statement on Monday.

“We are going to face a huge problem of illegal immigration that has exceeded the limit of endurance of the European Union.”