The Greek Coast Guard said it found the bodies of two women and 39 other immigrants on Monday and was on a small island in the Aegean Sea on Monday and conducted an investigation to determine what happened.

They said the death was not clear.

Coast Guard officials said Greek authorities were told that immigrants had arrived at the island earlier today, just 9.7 kilometers from the Turkish coast.

The rescued person was transferred to nearby Leros Island.

Greece in the southeast corner of the EU has long been a preferred portal for immigrants and refugees to Europe for the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

Since Greece was on the frontline of the European immigration crisis in 2015, the Coast Guard has rescued 250,000 people and landed nearly 1 million people from Turkiye, including Farmakonisi. According to the UN Refugee Service, thousands of deaths at sea were reported.

At least seven immigrants were drowned this month, including a boy, a girl and two women, when their ship sank on the island of Lesbos.