Over 300 migrants have reached Crete in recent days, taking the number of arrivals to Greece's southern island overall to date this year to more than 21,000; greater numbers than in all of 2025.
Crete remains at the forefront of migrant arrival numbers in Greece. The number of migrants to arrive on Greece's southern island, and its satellite Gavdos, has already surpassed 21,000 since the beginning of the year, outstripping the total number to have arrived on those islands throughout 2025. During that year, according to Refugee Aegean Support, 20,187 migrants arrived between January and the end of December 2025.
According to data released by the UNHCR at the end of last week, 20,912 migrants had arrived on Crete by October 25, this year. Since then, several hundred more migrants have landed on the island's shores.
In the early hours of November 2, a total of 43 migrants arrived at Trypiti beach in southern Crete, with 10 of them reported to have been stranded in an area that is not ordinarily reachable by land.
Rescue units nevertheless managed to make their way across the rugged terrain in a mission described as "particularly challenging" on the Greek news platform ekathimerini.
The operation apparently lasted several hours.
Other arrivals were also recorded in different locations across the island in the past 24 hours, according to the Greek coast guard.
Read AlsoCrete and Gavdos among Greek Islands with highest migrant sea arrivals
Tally of arrivals in recent days now over 300
This latest development comes after a total of 264 migrants managed to land on the large island over the weekend traveling in unseaworthy boats from the north African coast, according to Greek broadcaster ERTNews.
The coast guard said that more than half of those arrivals succeeded in reaching the island's southern beaches, while 122 people were rescued in Mediterranean waters more than 100 kilometers away from Crete's shores.
The migrants reportedly told officials that they had set off from Tobruk and Derna on the coast of eastern Libya, located about 300 kilometers south of Crete.
Read AlsoTobruk-to-Crete migrant crossings intensify as Greece enforces strict sea patrols
The dangerous sea journey can potentially take several days, with dozens of migrants losing their lives each year in attempts to reach Greece.
However, Greek government officials have said that they expect the arrival numbers to fall in coming weeks, as weather conditions in the Mediterranean Sea are expected to deteriorate with the onset of winter.
Arrival numbers in all of Greece fewer than 2025
Looking at numbers for all of Greece — including Crete and Gavdos — the arrival numbers of migrants to date this year total almost 36,000, with over half the arrivals involving the two southern islands.
Over the whole of last year, the number of people succeeding in reaching Greece was just shy of 49,000.
Despite the lower arrival numbers this year, Greek authorities are keen to keep up the controls they have placed on migration. This, according to Greek Migration Minister Thanos Plevris, is because there are more than half a million people still waiting in Libya to cross over to Europe, if not more.
The UNHCR said on November 2 that they have registered just over 100,000 refugees in Libya. More than 93,000 of these people have fled conflict in Sudan. However, many more migrants may be in Libya and not registered with the UNHCR, but instead hoping to cross using smuggling routes, from both eastern and western Libya.
Read AlsoGreece: New migrant arrivals in Gavdos take 2026 arrival tally to over 35,000
EU 'return hubs' expected to have impact on arrival rates
Thousands upon thousands of people continue to pay smugglers large sums each year to be taken to Greece via illegal crossings.
Many hope to move further into Western Europe after being processed for asylum in Greece — despite EU-wide safeguards obliging the first country of arrival to remain in charge of each step of asylum procedures from beginning to end.
New EU-wide laws enacted earlier in the year are designed to turn up the pressure on deportations of individuals who fail with their asylum request after being deemed not in need of protection.
In the coming months, several EU countries — including Greece — are expected to send failed asylum seekers who cannot be sent back to their countries of origin to so-called "return hubs" in other countries, with Rwanda being one of the main contenders thought to be in the running to host one of these hubs.
Read AlsoRwanda: Kigali emerges as site for Europe’s first migrant 'return hub'
with dpa