Eight migrants, including six children and two women, died in a shipwreck north of the Greek island of Samos on Monday.
The bodies were recovered by the coastguard, public broadcaster ERT reported, citing the Greek coastguard command.
As of midday Monday, 36 people on the wreck had been rescued from the sea by police, while three others were found by the coastguard on a rocky shore, the broadcaster added.
A joint search and rescue operation by the police and coast guard is underway, the broadcaster said.
Samos and other islands in the eastern Aegean Sea serve as key transit points for migrants arriving illegally in the EU from neighbouring Turkey. The number of migrant border crossings has increased in recent months, and Greek authorities attribute this to ongoing conflicts in the Middle East.
