Survivors from Samos shipwrecks granted deportation stay

Thirty-four migrants rescued from two boats that capsized while entering Greek waters illegally from Turkey have been granted a six-month reprieve from deportation on humanitarian grounds, the police said on Friday.

The bodies of 22 people, including women and children, have been recovered from the area where the two boats went under off the coast of the eastern Aegean island of Samos, located just a short distance from Turkey, in the early hours of May 5.

Authorities have identified 10 of the victims, who will receive burials in Greece, while the other 12 bodies will be brought to Athens as the Samos morgue has a limited capacity.