At least eight migrants drown off Greek island of Samos

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(Reuters) -Greece’s coastguard has found the bodies of eight migrants – six minors and two women – who drowned off the island of Samos, authorities said on Monday, in the second migrant shipwreck in the Aegean Sea this month.

Greek police found a further 36 people alive in the northern part of Samos, while three people, trapped in a rocky area of the island, were rescued by coast guard officers, the coast guard said.

Aircraft and vessels assisted a search and rescue operation, it added.

According to a coastguard official, authorities were alerted to the incident by a non-governmental organisation and estimate that about 50 people had been on board the vessel that brought them off Samos.

Greece, in the southeast corner of the European Union, has long been a favoured gateway to Europe for migrants and refugees from the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

More than one million crossed from Turkey to Greece’s outlying eastern islands in 2015-2016. Many have drowned while attempting the perilous journey on flimsy boats.

The number of arrivals later dropped before surging again last year.

Greek Shipping Minister Christos Stylianides said Greece’s priority was to put an end to human trafficking networks which were putting profits above the lives of innocent people.

“I want to express my deep sorrow for the loss of eight people, among them six young children,” he said in a statement. “We will tackle the great problem of illegal immigration which has exceeded the limits of endurance of the European Union.”

Four migrants died on Nov. 6 after a boat sank off the island of Rhodes.

So far this year, about 54,000 migrants have reached Greece, the second largest number in southern Europe behind Italy. The vast majority of them arrived by sea, according to data from the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR.

(Reporting by Yannis Souliotis and Alkis Konstantinidis; Writing by Antonis Pothitos and Renee Maltezou; Editing by Gareth Jones, William Maclean)