Authorities rescue 147 migrants in boats in 24 hours

Authorities rescued nearly 150 migrants trying to reach Greece by sea in small boats over a 24-hour period, officials have said, including one that had 115 people crammed into it.

A coast guard statement said the vessel was located in distress Tuesday off the eastern Aegean Sea island of Lesvos, which is close to the Turkish coast. Three patrol vessels picked up 67 men, 27 women and 21 children, who were taken to a migrant reception center on the island.

The boat sank shortly after the passengers were taken off it, the statement said. It was one of the largest single boatloads of migrants to reach the island from Turkey in recent months.

Smugglers typically target islands close to Turkey's coastline, but in recent months they have increasingly chosen longer routes from Libya to Crete, much farther south, and from Turkey through the central Aegean Sea, where...