Three refugees, two of which were children, lost their lives during a search and rescue operation Wednesday night off the east coast of the Greek island Samos in the Aegean Sea.

According to the Port authorities, the two children were on a boat with a total of 11 migrants when the boat sank east of Samos.

The coast guard managed to pull the two children out of the freezing waters, but the minors later died of hypothermia.

After being rescued, the migrants informed the coast guard officers two other missing people. Subsequently, after a few more hours of searching, the body of a man was spotted in the waters.

A coast guard boat, a Frontex vessel and a Navy helicopter took part in the search and rescue operations.