Greek and Turkish coastguards still searching for two missing people from the two unrelated accidents.
Two boats carrying refugees sank in the narrow stretch of sea between Turkiye and the Greek island of Lesbos, leaving at least 16 people dead, according to officials from both countries.
The accidents on the boats, which together carried about 66 people, occurred several hours apart on Thursday, with authorities on either side unaware of the other nation’s rescue efforts.
On the Greek side, the country’s coastguard said that one of its patrol boats came across a small dinghy of about five metres (5.5 yards) in length that was taking on water, and rescued 23 people – 11 minors, eight men and four women – out of a reported total of 31 passengers.
Authorities later recovered the bodies of seven people – three women, two boys, one girl and one man – after a search and rescue operation that included helicopters, vessels from the coastguard, and the FRONTEX European border agency.
The Greek coastguard said rescuers were still searching on Thursday evening for a young girl who had been reported as missing by survivors.
One of the survivors, identified only as a 20-year-old man, was arrested on suspicion of being a people smuggler after other passengers allegedly identified him as having piloted the dinghy, the coastguard said.
Separately in Turkiye, authorities from the northwestern province of Canakkale said the coastguard received an emergency call for help from a boat early Thursday morning, rescuing 25 people after deploying three boats and a helicopter.
The statement said that nine bodies had been recovered and the search for one missing person continued. Turkish media said the survivors were taken to a hospital in Turkiye.
Shipwrecks are very common on the short but perilous route between the Turkish coast and the nearby Greek islands of Samos, Rhodes and Lesbos that serve as entry points to the European Union for people fleeing conflict and poverty.
The Greek government has cracked down with increased patrols at sea, and many smuggling rings have shifted their operations south, using larger boats to transport people from the northern coast of Africa to southern Greece.
Last year, more than 54,000 people used what has become known as the eastern Mediterranean route heading to Greece, and more than 7,700 crossed Greece’s small land border with Turkiye, according to figures from the United Nations.
A total of 125 people were reported dead or missing.