Six children are among eight migrants who have died after a boat sank off the coast of the Greek island of Samos.
The Greek coast guard said 36 survivors were found on a rocky shoreline nearby the sinking on Monday, while three others had been rescued earlier.
Authorities confirmed the bodies of six children and two adult women had also been recovered from the water.
A rescue operation involving a patrol vessel, a lifeboat, a navy ship, a helicopter and land crews was ongoing, it said on Monday afternoon.
It was not immediately clear whether others were still missing.
Greece's Minister for Migration Nikos Panagiotopoulos condemned the incident and pledged tougher action against organised migrant-smuggling groups.
"The shipwreck on Samos, with the loss of eight innocent lives, including six children, fills us with sadness and anger," he said.
"The unscrupulous criminals who trade in human lives will meet with our determination to eradicate [their activities].”
Samos and other islands in the eastern Aegean Sea serve as key transit points for migrants entering the European Union illegally from nearby Turkey.
Migrant crossings have increased in recent months, with Greek officials attributing the rise to ongoing conflicts in the Middle East.
