Greece has rescued hundreds of migrants in the waters close to Crete and the nearby island of Gavdos since Friday, local authorities have reported, amid warnings that the number of arrivals could rise sharply in upcoming weeks.
More than 1,500 people reached Crete in the past three days, the authorities there said on Monday.
Separately, around 230 migrants were rescued from the sea near Gavdos, Greece's southernmost island.
The rescues came as Crete reported a sharp uptick in arrivals, with more than 6,500 migrants reaching the island in the first half of 2025, surpassing the total for the entire previous year.
Authorities were struggling to house this number of people, Deputy Mayor Eleni Zervoudaki told ERT Chania.
Approximately 182 people have been directed to a temporary reception centre set up by the municipality of Chania, with 600 expected to gather there by Monday evening.
“We are being called upon to manage a crisis,” Zervoudaki said, warning that the number of arrivals could increase "dramatically."
Last month, Athens said it would deploy two frigates and an additional vessel off Libyan waters to deter people from making the journey to Crete and Gavdos.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has urged authorities in Libya to take more decisive action to address the flow of migrants attempting to travel from the country to Greece.
Greece will use "all measures at its disposal, both carrot and stick, to ensure a new migration route to Crete is not established", Mitsotakis warned on Friday.
