Kali LimenesRescuers pulled 12 bodies and 18 survivors from one boat.
Greece’s coast guard says 20 migrants have died trying to reach Crete in recent days.
Frontex said in October that the Libya-to-Crete leg is the busiest section of the EU’s busiest migrant route.
Frontex aircraft and vessels rescued 87 more people from two boats 56 and 57 kilometres south of the port.
No one has identified the dead or said how they died.
How each outlet framed it
drawn from 90+ reports worldwide
- TRT World
- Deutsche Welle
- places the Crete surge in the context of Libya departures and Frontex's finding that the eastern Mediterranean is now the busiest route
Sources: TRT World, Deutsche Welle