Greek authorities carried out two separate search and rescue operations overnight in the waters south of Gavdos, recovering a combined 131 migrants from three boats.
Both operations were coordinated by Greece’s Joint Rescue Coordination Center, with support from the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, Frontex.
According to local news outlet patris.gr, in the first operation, a Frontex drone spotted 43 foreign nationals aboard a single boat about 20 nautical miles south of Gavdos.
A Frontex vessel was dispatched to the location and recovered them. The migrants were then transported to the port of Paleochora, on Crete’s southwestern coast, where conditions at sea were reported as calm.
A few hours later, in the same general stretch of water, a Frontex aircraft located roughly 88 more migrants split between two boats, also south of Gavdos.
As with the earlier rescue, the operation was coordinated by the Joint Rescue Coordination Center, and a Frontex vessel carried out the recovery.
