One person died and dozens were rescued by the Greek coast guard in two incidents involving migrant boats

Greek authorities said one person has died and 15 others were rescued after their dinghy overturned in rough weather off the eastern island of Kos, while dozens more migrants were rescued in a separate incident in southern Greece

ATHENS, Greece – A dinghy carrying migrants en route to the eastern Greek island of Kos capsized in rough weather overnight. One person died and 15 others were rescued, while dozens more people were rescued from a yacht in southern Greece, the coast guard said on Friday.

It said the dinghy had 16 people on board when it capsized southeast of Kos, near the Turkish coast. A Coast Guard vessel rescued 15 people and pulled a helpless woman from the water. Two of the survivors were treated in a hospital.

Separately, another coast guard ship rescued 78 people from a distressed wooden boat traveling south of the southern Greek island of Gavdos, the coast guard said. There were no reports of injuries or missing people and the boat's passengers were transported to the southern island of Crete.

The rescue operations came a day after a merchant ship rescued dozens of migrants from a distressed yacht off Greece's southwest coast.

According to the coast guard, around 70 migrants were on the ship and were being taken to the southern Greek port of Kalamata.

In none of the incidents was information immediately available about the nationality of the migrants.

Typically, smuggling gangs force dozens of people into yachts, fishing boats or rubber dinghies that they leave from Turkey to the nearby Greek islands or to Italy across the central Aegean. Each passenger is charged several thousand dollars for the trip.

The route to Italy passes through the waters of the Eastern Aegean, which are intensively monitored by the Greek Coast Guard.