Two men accused of migrant smuggling face prosecutor over deadly shipwreck

Two Syrian men aged 26 and 27 are to face a prosecutor on Tuesday after migrants rescued from a shipwreck that claimed at least three lives off the coast of the southeastern Aegean island of Rhodes told police they had paid the pair to arrange the trip from Turkey to Greece.

A man, a woman and a child died when the wooden sailing boat carrying 93 migrants, mostly Syrians fleeing strife in the Middle East, from Turkey to Greece smashed into rocks near the port of Rhodes and sank. The prompt response of residents and the coast guard led to the rescue of 90 of the passengers, six of whom are children.

Meanwhile, coast guard officers in Lesvos, the eastern Aegean towed to safety on Tuesday 42 migrants whose boat got into trouble.