At least 12 migrants died on Monday attempting to cross the Aegean Sea, including six people whose bodies were found after their boat collided with a police vessel, Greek authorities said.
A baby and four women were among six people who died off the island of Lesbos on Monday following the collision, a coast guard official told the AFP news agency.
The other six dead, five men and a woman, were on a small boat that capsized off the island of Samos, the coastguard added.
Another 14 people from the boat, one of them a presumed Iranian organiser, were rescued.
The coastguard official said that in the incident off Lesbos, “a speed boat carrying migrants collided with the port side of a police patrol vessel”.
The official said eight people were rescued.
The Aegean is a much-used route for migrants crossing from Turkey and hoping to reach Europe.
At least 1,209 migrants have died or gone missing in the Mediterranean since the beginning of the year, according to the International Organisation for Migration.
This is a developing story and our journalists are working on further updates.
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