Twelve migrants, including infant, drown off Greek islands

Twelve migrants, including an infant, drowned when two boats capsized off Lesbos and Samos on October 19 during coast guard pursuits; two suspected smugglers were arrested.

Twelve migrants, including an infant, drowned in two separate boat capsizings off the Greek islands of Lesbos and Samos on October 19, as coast guard vessels pursued migrant boats coming from Turkey. Five men and one woman died when a speedboat overturned north of Samos after a sudden manoeuvre; four men, one woman and an infant died when their boat collided with a coast guard vessel off Lesbos.

Authorities arrested two survivors – an Iranian national off Samos and a 37-year-old Turkish national off Lesbos – on suspicion of migrant smuggling. Greece's shipping minister vowed 'zero tolerance' for smugglers, blaming them for the deaths, while the circumstances of the collisions remain under investigation.

Greece, a front-line state in Europe's 2015-16 migration crisis, has hardened its stance and faces accusations from rights groups of forcibly returning migrants, which it denies. The twin tragedies come as smuggling routes across the northeastern Aegean remain active.