Six children, two women die in Greece migrant shipwreck

Eight migrants, six of them minors and two women, died Monday after a boat sank in the Aegean Sea, the Greek coastguard said.

The coastguard said nearly 40 people had been rescued and a search for survivors was ongoing amid strong winds. Three people trapped in a rocky area on the island were rescued by coast guard officers, while Greek police found 36 others alive in the northern part of Samos. Aircraft and vessels assisted in the search operation.

The incident occurred north of the island of Samos, a route frequently chosen by people smugglers. Authorities were alerted to the incident by a non-governmental organization and estimate that about 50 people were on board the vessel.

Greece has seen a 25 percent increase this year in the number of people fleeing war and poverty, with a 30 percent increase alone to Rhodes and the south-east Aegean, according to the migration ministry.

So far this year, about 54,000 migrants have reached Greece, making it the second largest recipient in southern Europe behind Italy, according to UN refugee agency UNHCR. The vast majority arrived by sea.

Greece, in the southeast corner of the European Union, has long been a favored gateway for migrants from the Middle East, Africa and Asia. More than one million crossed from Turkey to Greece's outlying eastern islands in 2015-2016, with many drowning during the perilous journey on flimsy boats.

Several similar accidents have occurred in past weeks, the last in early November when four people died near the island of Rhodes. In late October, two people died near the island of Samos. Four more, including two infants, were lost near the island of Kos a few days earlier.