Faistos

Coast guard officers have rescued 52 migrants off the south of Crete after receiving a call for help through the emergency 112 number.

The migrants, who say they are citizens of Sudan and Egypt, were on an inflatable vessel in the sea south of the village of Kaloi Limenes in Iraklio prefecture.

The southern island of Crete was rocked by three earthquakes of magnitude 4 or higher within a 25-minute span on Wednesday morning. No injuries have been reported.

The first quake, with a magnitude of 4.1, struck at 11.21 a.m. Its epicenter was located in the sea, 19 kilometers south of Miamou, Iraklio.

The recent spike in migrant flows to the southern shores of Crete is becoming an increasing source of concern for the government, which expects an intervention from the European Commission.

A 5.1-magnitude tremor has hit the south coast of the island of Crete near the town of Moires, the Athens-based Institute of Geodynamics has announced.

The earthquake occurred at 9.59 p.m. local time (1859 GMT) Thursday at a depth of 8.9 kilometers, the Institute announced.

A day earlier, a 4.2-maginitude tremor had occurred in the same area.