12 Migrants, Including a Baby, Drown as Coast Guard Chases Boats in the Aegean

Greek Coast Guard patrol boat in the Aegean Sea

Twelve migrants, including a baby, drowned in the Aegean Sea on Monday after two migrant speedboats capsized while being chased by the Greek coast guard, authorities said. The deaths came in two separate incidents off the islands of Lesbos and Samos in the northeastern Aegean, on one of the busiest and deadliest migration routes from Turkey into Europe.

Off the island of Samos, five men and a woman died when a speedboat carrying migrants from Turkey made a sudden manoeuvre and overturned about four nautical miles offshore. Fourteen people survived, and one of them — an Iranian national — was arrested on suspicion of organizing the crossing. Hours earlier off Lesbos, another speedboat collided with a Greek coast guard vessel and overturned, killing four men, a woman, and an infant. Eight survivors were taken to hospital, and a 37-year-old Turkish man was detained as the suspected smuggler behind the wheel.

Greece's shipping minister said the speedboat off Lesbos struck the left side of the patrol vessel with its bow, adding that the exact circumstances are still under investigation. The government vowed "zero tolerance" toward migrant smugglers, blaming them for the deaths. Migration Minister Thanos Plevris said smugglers "are putting migrants in grave danger" while praising the coast guard. According to the EU's asylum agency, the bloc received 332,000 asylum applications in the first half of 2026 — down 17 percent from a year earlier as European countries tighten migration policies.

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