[Dateline: Athens, Greece].
Twenty — two people lost their lives at sea when a boat carrying migrants from Libya was found drifting off the coast of Greece, with survivors and officials reporting that the victims’bodies were thrown overboard by smugglers. Among the survivors were 21 Bangladeshi, four South Sudanese, and a Chadian citizen. The boat had departed from Tobruk, Libya, on March 21 and was abandoned by the smugglers after the group ran out of food and water.
Two survivors were hospitalized in Heraklion, Crete, while two South Sudanese men, aged 19 and 22, were arrested by Greek authorities and are under investigation for “illegal entry into the country “and “negligent homicide.”The incident follows a sharp increase in deaths at sea, with the number of people dying trying to reach European soil more than doubling in the first two months of 2026 compared to last year. The European parliament recently endorsed a stricter EU migration policy, including the concept of “return hubs “for migrants, which has faced criticism from rights groups for its inhumane approach.
Source: The guardian
