The Greek coast guard says at least three Bangladeshis drowned while trying to swim to shore from a ship moored at the island of Crete.
Maritime authorities said Sunday the incident happened in the port of Souda. Another 16 people are missing and around 28 men were hospitalized with hypothermia.
The men are believed to have jumped from a Greek ferry that had transported about a thousand evacuees from Libya.
Ships have been ferrying thousands of evacuees from Libya to Crete in recent days, mostly migrant workers fleeing the fighting between rebels and forces supporting the Moammar Gadhafi regime
Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.