Multiple migrant deaths over three days off Greek coast

Three people died and 57 were rescued at sea on Friday

A cargo ship carries migrants during a rescue operation off the island of Crete in October. Reuters

Seventeen people have died on boats carrying migrants in three days, Greek officials said on Friday.

Three people died and 57 were rescued after a boat sank in the Aegean Sea near the island of Paros.

Hours earlier, 11 bodies were recovered from a boat that ran aground on an islet north of the Greek island of Antikythera on Thursday.

A total of 90 people stranded on the islet were rescued, including 27 children and 11 women, the coastguard said.

On Wednesday, a dinghy carrying migrants capsized off the island of Folegandros, killing at least three people. Thirteen people were rescued, while dozens remain missing, Greek authorities said.

The UN's refugee agency estimates that between January and November this year more than 2,500 people died, or were missing at sea, after trying to reach Europe.

Nearly one million people, mainly Syrian refugees, arrived in the European Union in 2015 after crossing to Greek islands close to Turkey.