Body of young child recovered off Greek island

Greek authorities estimate the victim was about three years old

Migrants wait to meet the Pope at the reception centre in Mytilene on the Greek island of Lesbos on December 5. AFP

The body of a young child was recovered from the Aegean Sea on Saturday, two weeks after two deadly accidents in the area involving boats loaded with migrants, Greek Coast Guard officials said.

The body was found off the island of Naxos, and authorities estimated late on Saturday that the victim, who was 85 centimetres tall, was about three years old.

The body will be taken to the city of Piraeus, a port in the capital Athens, for forensic examination.

On Thursday, four other bodies belonging to a man, a woman and two pre-teen girls were found, three off Naxos and one off the nearby island of Paros.

On December 22, 12 people, all believed to be from Iraq, were rescued from an inflatable dinghy off Folegandros in the southern Cyclades, 180 kilometres south-east of Athens.

The bodies of three unidentified men were recovered from the sea. Survivors of that incident said that at least 17 others were missing.

Two days later, 41 people were rescued after a sailboat carrying about 80 migrants overturned north-west of Paros.

As Greece has tightened patrols off its eastern Aegean islands, close to the Turkish coastline, smugglers based in Turkey have increasingly packed yachts with migrants and refugees and sent them towards Italy.

In 2021, more than 116,000 asylum-seekers crossed the Mediterranean to reach EU countries, the UN refugee agency said.

The agency said 55 per cent travelled illegally to Italy, 35 per cent to Spain and 7 per cent to Greece, with the rest heading to Malta and Cyprus.