The Greek coast guard published a series of press releases in the last two days detailing continual discovery, rescues and arrests of migrants and those suspected of smuggling them in to Greece. In total, the Greek authorities say they picked up at least 229 migrants in various operations across different islands between Saturday (October 19) and Monday.

The bodies of a man and a woman were picked up by the Greek coast guard from the Aegean Sea, off the island of Samos, confirmed a spokesperson with the Greek coast guard on Monday (October 21). The two had been reported missing by fellow migrants on the boat and a search had ensued.

Twenty-two other migrants, who had been on board the same boat when it capsized on Sunday night, were rescued by the coast guard and taken to Samos, where they were placed in police custody, reported the French news agency Agence France Presse (AFP).

Read AlsoGreece: Four migrants dead after boat incident off Kos

Bad weather

A spokesperson for the Greek coast guard said high winds had caused rough weather, which may have been responsible for the capsizing. The spokesperson said that winds of up to 60 kilometers per hour were blowing at the time of the accident.

According to a press release from the Greek coast guard, migrants on board the boat had made a distress call to the Greek authorities on Sunday evening, saying they were north-east of Samos. A patrol boat was sent out immediately but when the coast guard arrived, stated the press release, they located a "semi-submerged boat and all its occupants in the sea."

The coast guard said it picked up 16 men, two women and four minors from the boat. Several other patrol boats and lifeboats joined the search, and an air force helicopter took off. The open sea vessel later located two unconscious migrants, who were also picked up and taken to the port of Vatheos on Samos. However, they were pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital on Samos.

A 19-year-old foreigner, stated the coast guard, was "recognized by the rest of the migrants as their smuggler and was arrested on suspicion of "transporting third-country nationals and illegal entry into the country."

Arrivals in Kos

Also on Monday, the Greek coast guard posted a second press release, in which they confirmed that the port authority in Leros had informed them of the presence of a high speed boat, approaching the island of Kalolimnos and headed for the western coast of Kos.

All 28 migrants on board were "rounded up and safely transported to the port of Kos, where they were handed over to the port authoritiy." Later, they found the driver of the high-speed boat, which attempted to escape, making dangerous maneuvers, stated the Greek coast guard. After pursuit, a collision happened and the assistant co-pilot of the boat that had transported migrants ended up in the sea unconscious. He was brought on board the coast guard ship and after CPR was resuscitated and regained consciousness. The operator of the speed boat was taken to port and the boat sank after the collision.

Two members of the coast guard boat were reported to be suffering from head injuries following the collision. They were taken to hospital for medical treatment. The driver of the speed boat was arrested by port authority staff in Kos, on suspicion of putting life at risk, dangerous driving (of a boat) and illegal entry and exit from the country.

Read AlsoAt least one person dead as boat with 100 migrants on board capsizes near Crete

At least 86 migrants found on Rhodes

On Sunday, the port authority in Karpathos said it was informed about "the existence of 86 migrants, 75 men, nine women and two minors, who were located and taken to Diafani port station."

A patrol boat was sent out south of the island of Rhodes, where they found what they described as a "suspicious sailing vessel with two Turkish citizens on board" who were "in possession of five fake passports." A second sailing vessel was also located, with four foreigners on board, two Belarus citizens, one Iranian and one Turkish-Georgian. This boat was also "immobilized."

The port authorities and the maritime border security and protection directorate, as well as the Hellenic coast guard, arrested the six foreigners for allegedly having smuggled the 86 migrants into the country.

The sailing vessels were confiscated by the port authority suspected of having been the "means of trafficking."

Later on Sunday, security forces conducted a coordinated operation in which they arrested "three foreigners aged 23, 26 and 26," for allegedly being members of a criminal organization.

The Greek authorities allege that the first two foreigners are "leading members of a third-country nationals trafficking organization, which organized transport and recruited vehicle drivers to pick up disembarked foreigners, while the third supervised the movements of patrol boats and disembarkation points, in order to hide the disembarked from the authorities."

Read AlsoFour confirmed dead in Samos migrant boat tragedy

Arrivals and arrests

A further 42 migrants (nine men, nine women and 24 minors) were located on an islet Panagia Oinoussa, and were later transported to Chios by the Greek authorities, where they were handed over to the port authorities.

In the early hours of Sunday morning, the Greek coast guard also detected a high-speed boat carrying eight migrants (three men, three women and two minors) while on a scheduled patrol. The migrants were found on land on Rhodes. The 28-year-old operator of the boat was arrested after the migrants identified him as their smuggler.

A 20-year-old Turkish citizen was also arrested on Samos by the port authorities, accused of displaying a forged travel document and having entered the country illegally by sea, "with the intention of illegally traveling inland."

The Greek coast guard also reported that they had seen a speed boat disembarking 14 migrants on land on the small island of Symi, also not far from the Turkish coast. When found by the coast guard, the migrants said they had set off from the Bozburun region of Turkey and had each paid around 4,000 euros to smugglers for their transport to Greece. The boat on which they arrived was confiscated by the port authorities on Symi.

On Saturday, a coast guard patrol spotted an "inflatable speedboat disembarking 29 migrants" on southeast Rhodes. After seeing the disembarkation, the coast guard chased the high-speed rubber boat, and eventually stopped the pilot and three others, all of whom were arrested. The migrants were discovered further inland, stated the coast guard and were taken to the port authority in Rhodes where they identified the four arrested as their smugglers.

Four people (two women and two children) died last week off the island of Kos, which is further south than Samos, but also not far from the Turkish coast, from where the migrants had originally departed. At least one person died last week too off the island of Gavdos and Crete.

Three more people died off Samos in September.

With AFP, AP and Reuters