Bangladeshis among 26 rescued as 22 perish in migrant boat tragedy off Greek coast

At least 21 Bangladeshi nationals have narrowly escaped death after being rescued from a deflated rubber boat in the Mediterranean, a journey that saw 22 of their fellow passengers perish during a six-day drift without sustenance.

The survivors were intercepted by a European border agency approximately 53 nautical miles south of the Greek island of Crete on Friday, according to reports from The Guardian and the BBC.

The group had embarked from the Libyan port of Tobruk on Mar 21, hoping to reach Europe.

The vessel, however, lost its course shortly after departure, leaving the migrants stranded in open waters.

Authorities said for six consecutive days, the passengers, comprising Bangladeshis and several African nationals, endured bad weather without any access to food or clean water.

By the time the coast guard reached the vessel, 22 people had already succumbed to the extreme conditions, according to the rescuers.

In a harrowing detail provided by the 26 survivors, the deceased were not kept on the boat, instead, the survivors were allegedly ordered by traffickers to throw the bodies into the sea as they died.

Among the 26 pulled from the water, 21 were identified as Bangladeshis.

The remaining survivors included four people from South Sudan and one from Chad.

Two individuals were immediately air-lifted to a hospital in Heraklion for urgent treatment for severe dehydration and exposure.

The Greek authorities have since detained two South Sudanese men, aged 19 and 22, on suspicion of being the smugglers who organised the fatal trip.

They face a number of charges, including negligent homicide and illegal human trafficking.

The Guardian report citing data from the International Organisation for Migration said 559 people died in the Mediterranean during January and February, compared with 287 for the same period last year.

At least 41,696 arrived in Greece by sea in 2025, according to the UN's refugee agency UNHCR, the BBC reported.

More than 4,000 have so far arrived this year.

In December, 17 migrants were found dead inside a boat that had been taking on water and had partially submerged near the Cretan coast, according to the BBC.