Greek officials find stranded migrants

ATHENS, Greece — Greek authorities found 84 migrants arriving by sea and arrested four individuals, accusing them of being the traffickers that transported them, the coast guard said Sunday.

Both incidents occurred early Saturday, it said.

In the first incident, the coast guard was alerted to a boat drifting because of mechanical failure at sea, 46 nautical miles south of the island of Crete.

A Greek Navy frigate found the boat and rescued a total of 72 individuals, 58 of them men and 14 minors, transporting them to Crete.

After questioning the new arrivals, the coast guard arrested two of them, ages 30 and 18, whom it suspected of being the traffickers that piloted the boat.

The boat had sailed from the Libyan port of Tobruk. The rescued migrants told Greek authorities that they had each paid between $2,000 and $4,000 for their passage to Greece.

In the second case, also early Saturday, the coast guard was informed that people had landed on a beach on the island of Rhodes.

A coast guard patrol boat then intercepted a speedboat with two men who were headed to the Turkish coast. The two foreigners, who were not carrying travel documents, declared they were 34 and 24 years old, respectively.

A little later, a Greek police patrol found 14 migrants, including five men, four women and five minors, authorities said.

Authorities believe the two arrested men were traffickers who were returning to their base in Turkey.