Greece charges 5 with smuggling 96 migrants to Italy by sea

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greek authorities say five people have been charged with trying to smuggle nearly 100 migrants into Europe on an unsafe vessel last week. They allegedly used what appears to be a new route from crisis-afflicted Lebanon to Italy. It was the second such incident in about a month involving a boat departing Lebanon. The more common course for asylum-seekers from the Middle East and Africa seeking a better life in Europe is from Turkey to Greece or Italy through the central Aegean Sea. Greece’s coast guard said Tuesday the suspected smugglers were detained from among 101 people on the motor yacht found drifting off Greece’s southeastern island of Karpathos.