![\"More](\"https:\/\/www.ekathimerini.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/migrants_crete-320x200.jpg?v=1776170608\")
\n <\/source><\/picture>\n
[Handout\/Hellenic Coast Guard]<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
A total of more than 150 migrants have been rescued in a day in waters off southern Crete or having just reached there after completing the long and dangerous Mediterranean Sea passage from northern Africa, authorities said Tuesday.<\/p>\n
The Coast Guard said the migrants crossed separately in three small boats Monday, one of which reached the beach of Arvi carrying 36 men, a woman and a child.<\/p>\n
One of the men was identified as the person who had steered the vessel over from eastern Libya, and was arrested pending charges of endangering the other passengers and assisting their illegal entry to Greece.<\/p>\n
The other two boats were located up to 32 miles south of Crete, and their passengers \u2013 a total 109 men and 12 children \u2013 were picked up by a passing freighter and a patrol boat from the European Union\u2019s Frontex border agency, and then transferred to Crete.<\/p>\n
Despite the distance from Libya, which takes about three days to cover in a small boat, Crete has become the main single target for smugglers sending migrants to Greece. So far this year more than 2,200 people have reached the southern island, more than a third of the total 6,000 migrants to enter Greece illegally by land and sea.<\/p>\n
In comparison, the eastern Aegean Sea island of Lesvos, once the main migrant destination as it lies a short distance from the western shores of Turkey, has seen about 800 arrivals since January 1, according to United Nations data.<\/p>\n
In recent years, Greece\u2019s Coast Guard, assisted by Frontex vessels, has drastically stepped up deterrence patrols in the eastern Aegean, contributing to the drop in arrivals there and the corresponding surge in flows from Libya, a country that has been unstable for more than 15 years.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n