European Border and Coast Guard

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.

At least 78 bodies have been found by rescuers conducting search-and-rescue operations on Wednesday following the capsizing of a fishing vessel off the town of Pylos in the Peloponnese. There are fears that the death toll may still yet increase further. 104 people on board have been rescued, with information suggesting that the people on board may have exceeded 400.

59 migrants have drowned after a boat capsized off the coast of Greece. 100 people were rescued, but it is not clear how many migrants were on the boat.

The boat sank off the Peloponnese peninsula, reported the Greek coast guard. This is the worst migrant incident in Greece this year.

At least 32 migrants drowned early on Wednesday when their boat capsized and sank off Greece, the country's coast guard said.

One hundred people were rescued, but it remained unclear how many were on board when the vessel went under, authorities said. The shipwreck was the deadliest off Greece this year.

A large search and rescue operation has been launched off the southern coast of Greece after a fishing boat carrying dozens of migrants capsized and sank.