Two dead in migrant shipwreck: Greek coastguard

ATHENS: Two migrants have drowned and dozens more are missing after their boats capsized in the Aegean, Greece's coastguard said on Monday.

Some 65 migrants of unknown nationality had attempted to cross the Aegean from neighbouring Turkey when their two dinghies capsized near the Greek island of Samos, the coastguard said.

It has so far picked up 36 survivors and two dead, and the operation is ongoing.

Greece is one of the main ports of entry into the European Union for people fleeing war-torn and impoverished countries in Africa, the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent.

People traffickers are using Greece's Aegean islands as a preferred route into Europe following a tightening of migration controls along its land border with Turkey.