Society News

22 migrants die after six days adrift off Crete; survivors say bodies were thrown overboard

At least 22 migrants died after six days at sea in a rubber boat off Crete, survivors told the Greek coastguard on Saturday, March 28, Al Jazeera and AFP reported. The boat left Tobruk in eastern Libya on March 21. The coastguard said the passengers lost their bearings and went without food or water. A Frontex vessel rescued 26 people, including a woman and a minor; two survivors were taken to hospital in Heraklion.

Survivors said the bodies of the dead were thrown overboard, which the coastguard said happened on the orders of one of the smugglers. Greek authorities arrested two South Sudanese men, aged 19 and 22, suspected of being the smugglers.

Greek daily To Vima gave more detail: the boat was found about 52 nautical miles south of Ierapetra after an alert from Greece's Joint Search and Rescue Coordination Center, and it had left Libya with 48 people aboard. Survivors reportedly paid 1 million Bangladeshi taka, $10,000 or 12,000 Libyan dinars each. The two men face charges including negligent homicide, and the Heraklion Port Authority is investigating. The Philippines' Daily Tribune ran AFP's short wire version.

How each outlet framed it

• Al Jazeera — the deaths in the context of rising arrivals on Crete and Greece's 2025 asylum suspension.
• To Vima — the rescue, the payments and the charges, from a Greek investigative angle.
• Daily Tribune — a brief AFP account built on survivors' words.

Context: Al Jazeera, citing UNHCR, said more than 16,770 people arrived in Crete in 2025 and at least 107 died or went missing in Greek waters that year.