Skip to main content
Tuesday, November 10, 2026Nov 10

Greek coast guard rescues hundreds at sea over weekend

An Afghan refugee child lies on his father's shoulder shortly after arriving on a dinghy from the Turkish coast to the northeastern Greek island of Lesbos, Monday, Oct. 5, 2015. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen)
An Afghan refugee child lies on his father's shoulder shortly after arriving on a dinghy from the Turkish coast to the northeastern Greek island of Lesbos, Monday, Oct. 5, 2015. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen) An Afghan refugee child lies on his father's shoulder shortly after arriving on a dinghy from the Turkish coast to the northeastern Greek island of Lesbos, Monday, Oct. 5, 2015. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen)

ATHENS, Greece (AP) – Greece’s coast guard says it has rescued 1,743 refugees or migrants over the weekend in 57 separate search and rescue operations near eastern Aegean islands, while the body of a young child was found washed up on an island beach.

Those rescued were picked up between Friday morning and Monday morning off the islands of Samos, Farmakonissi, Kos and Megisti, the coast guard said. They do not include those who make it to the islands themselves from the nearby Turkish coast, usually in overloaded inflatable dinghies.

Separately, the coast guard said late Sunday the decomposing body of a young child aged between 3 and 5 was found washed up on the island of Kos. It was unclear when the child, dressed in blue trousers and a pink top, had died.