The Greek Coast Guard recovered 17 bodies and rescued two survivors from a half-sunken boat off Crete on Saturday. Authorities were alerted by a Turkish cargo ship about 30 nautical miles offshore. A search involving multiple vessels and aircraft located the wreck. The survivors stated no one else was missing from the boat, according to a ministry official.
The cause of the sinking remains unclear. The official declined to comment on state media reports the migrants died of hypothermia, noting a coroner would determine the cause. The disaster follows a summer hardening of Greece’s migration policy, including a freeze on asylum applications and a new law imposing prison terms on rejected applicants who remain.