8 migrants drown off Greek island

Greek police found further 36 people alive in northern part of Samos while three others rescued by coast guard

ATHENS:

Greece's coastguard has found the bodies of eight migrants - six minors and two women – who drowned off the island of Samos, authorities said on Monday, in the second migrant shipwreck in the Aegean Sea this month.

Greek police found a further 36 people alive in the northern part of Samos, while three people, trapped in a rocky area of the island, were rescued by coast guard officers, the coast guard said.

Aircraft and vessels assisted a search and rescue operation, it added.

According to a coastguard official, authorities were alerted to the incident by a non-governmental organisation and estimate that about 50 people had been on board the vessel that brought them off Samos