While 18 people were rescued, an eight-year-old boy, and three girls aged between 14 years and eight months died after their boat sank.
"We express our deepest sadness" for the five deaths, Marinakis said at a regular briefing. He praised the coast guard for "superhuman efforts" to rescue lives at sea.
Over the weekend, the coast guard said it picked up dozens of people from boats near islands in the eastern Aegean Sea. It said it recovered 20 people from a dinghy off the coast of Lesbos on Sunday, and 11 others from another dinghy that was sinking near the same island on Saturday. More than 15,600 people have reached Greece by land and sea so far this year, according to the latest United Nations figures. Nearly 12,000 of them arrived by sea with 5000 reaching Lesbos alone.
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