European Border and Coast Guard

In the first seven months of this year, record levels of illegal crossings at EU borders were reported, DPA reported, citing the Union's border agency - Frontex.

The Hellenic Coast Guard coordinated the rescue of 49 migrants from a cargo ship 109 nautical miles southwest of Pylos early Friday. 

Forty-seven people were evacuated to a Coast Guard vessel, while a 21-year-old woman with sunburn and her companion were flown to Kalamata Hospital by helicopter. 

European Ombudsman Emily O'Reilly on Wednesday opened an own-initiative inquiry aimed at clarifying the role of Frontex, the European border control agency, in search and rescue operations in the Mediterranean Sea following the drowning of hundreds of people in international waters off the coast of Greece on June 14. 

The European Union's official watchdog said Wednesday it has opened a probe in the role of the bloc's Frontex border agency in the shipwreck off Greece last month that is feared to have killed hundreds of people in the Mediterranean Sea.

Migrant crossings in unseaworthy boats organzied by human traffickers from Northern Africa have spiked this year, with massive losses of life.

Greece's new minister for migration said Monday he would consider it "unthinkable" for the European Union to pull out its border protection force from the country, and promised to address a growing list of international grievances over dealing with migrants.

The European Union's border agency is seeking "clarifications and information" from Greece's coast guard on two alleged cases of migrants who crossed by boat being illegally deported back to Turkey, a European official said Friday.

Dozens of children were among 145 asylum seekers who were rescued off an islet in the Evros River on the Greek-Turkish border on Thursday morning.

They had reportedly been stranded on the islet for several days after apparently trying to cross into Greece from Turkey. How they became stranded was not clear.

The head of the EU border agency Frontex has said the Greek authorities "did their upmost to save lives" in Wednesday's sinking of a ship crammed with migrants that went down off the coast of Pylos, in the Peloponnese.

Speaking from the nearby city of Kalamata, Frontex Executive Director Hans Leijtens said the sinking was "a horrible incident, any way you look at it."

The European Union is sending manpower to Greece to assist local authorities in the search and rescue mission taking place in the sea area off the coast of southwestern Peloponnese, following a deadly shipwreck on Wednesday that killed at least 79 migrants, a European Commission spokesperson said on Thursday.

The Greek Coast Guard on Wednesday stated that at least 78 migrants have been found dead after a fishing boat was wrecked off Pylos, Peloponnese. So far, 104 migrants have been rescued.

A rescue operation took place in the early hours of the morning in international waters 47 nautical miles southwest of Pylos.