Greece rescues 340 migrants off Crete, as Libya finds 100 dead off western coast

On Friday, the Greek coast guard pulled at least 340 migrants from a sinking ship some 75 nautical miles south of Crete, in Egyptian waters. Four bodies were also pulled from the Mediterranean. The nationalities of the migrants and their starting port were not yet known, though coast guard spokesman Nikos Lagadianos told Reuters that "from some scattered accounts we have heard, they set off from the African coastline." Lagadianos said he's not sure how many people were on the boat, but "we've heard that there were 400 or 500 people on board.... There is a huge rescue effort underway."

A spokesman for Libya's navy, Col. Ayoub Gassim, had grimmer news Friday, reporting that at least 104 bodies of would-be migrants have been recovered off the coast of Zwara, in western Libya. The Libyan coast guard found the empty boat on Thursday, he told The Associated Press, criticizing Europe for "doing nothing but counting bodies." Earlier this week, the United Nations estimated that more than 2,500 migrants have died so far this year trying to reach Western Europe. Previously, the mostly Syrian refugees would cross a narrow strip of water from Turkey to Greece, but an EU-Turkey deal effectively closed that route in March. With the weather warming, migration has increased from Libya, a much longer and more dangerous voyage.

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