Five migrants drown off Greek coast, four of them children

Rescued migrants disembark a Hellenic Coast Guard vessel at the port of Mytilene, following a shipwreck in which four migrants drowned, off the island of Lesbos, Greece, August 28, 2023. REUTERS/Elias Marcou

ATHENS (Reuters) -Four migrant children drowned off the Greek island of Lesbos and one woman drowned in a separate incident off the island of Samos on Monday, all while trying to cross the sea from nearby Turkey, the Greek government said.

The Greek coastguard rescued 23 people in Turkish waters in the early hours of Monday and four of them later died, government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis said. They were an 8-year-old boy and three girls aged 14, 8, and 11 months.