A Spanish aid group rescued more than 100 migrants Thursday from three separate migrant boats off Libya's coast and recovered at least four bodies after one of the vessels sank. Relatives reported another two people drowned but rough seas hampered search efforts.
The Associated Press was aboard the Astral rescue ship of the group Proactiva Open Arms when a Libyan fisherman flagged the sunken migrant boat some 20 miles north of the western Libyan city of Sabratha.
The 11-member Astral crew sent out two dinghies to pull survivors from the sea, some of whom were in shock from being in the water for too long. As the survivors were being brought aboard, another two wooden migrant ships approached the Astral seeking help.
All the survivors were transferred to Italian navy vessels who are coordinating the EU's Mediterranean rescue operation. Those rescued by the Astral were among 534 migrants rescued Thursday in 11 different operations, according to the Italian co
t guard.
Separately Thursday, Greek authorities reported they had returned 14 migrants to neighboring Turkey, bringing to nearly 500 the total of people sent back under this year's deal between the European Union and Turkey.
The public order ministry said four Pakistani and two Algerian nationals who had entered Greece illegally were taken back by boat from the eastern island of Lesbos Thursday. Another eight Syrians were returned Wednesday on a chartered plane, again from Lesbos.
More than a million refugees and other migrants have reached Greece in smugglers' boats from Turkey since the beginning of 2015, on their way to Europe's prosperous heartland.
Since the EU-Turkey deal came into effect on March 20, the flow has slowed down to just over 10,000 people - 482 of whom have been returned.
Greece's coast guard rescued dozens of migrants Friday whose boat ran aground on a deserted islet off the coast of southwestern Greece, hundreds of miles from the usual entry point ofmigrants into the European Union nation.
The boat carrying about 70 people ran aground overnight on the tiny islet of Sapientza, off the southwestern tip of the Peloponnese, the coast guard said. The vast majority of migrants reach Greece's eastern Aegean islands a few miles from the Turkish coast.
Coast guard vessels picked up the migrants Friday morning, ferrying them to the mainland where they were to be registered. It was not immediately clear what type of boat they had been on, where they had set sail from or where they had been sailing to.
Separately, government figures showed 261 migrants or refugees arrived on Greek islands in the 24 hours from Thursday morning to Friday morning - a jump compared to recent figures, which had ranged from a few dozen to about 150 per day.
Of those who arrived in the last 24 hours, the vast majority - 139 people - reached the eastern Aegean island of Lesbos. The rest arrived on Chios, Samos, Leros and Karpathos.
The new arrivals brought the official count of refugees and migrants stranded in Greece to just over 58,000.
Last year, Greece was the main point of entry into the EU for hundreds of thousands seeking better lives in northern and central European countries. A deal between the EU and Turkey reached in March, combined with Balkan border closures to migrants, has led to a dramatic drop in the number of arrivals.
Those now arriving on Greek islands from Turkey face deportation back to Turkey unless they successfully apply for asylum in Greece. While the deal has limited the flow, people still arrive and around 11,000 are stranded on a handful of eastern Aegean islands, most housed in overcrowded detention camps.