BUCHAREST — Romania’s coast guard said Monday it has intercepted a fishing boat carrying 70 migrants suspected of trying to illegally enter Romania.

Border police working for the coast guard said they spotted the vessel late Sunday near the Black Sea port of Constanta. Authorities escorted the boat into port and allowed the migrants to disembark. Some received medical treatment.

They said the group was made up of 35 men, 12 women, and 23 minors, who told authorities they were from Iraq and Syria. The statement said an investigation was underway.

Meanwhile in Greece, authorities said Monday they had found 53 refugees and migrants — including 24 minors — walking along a northern highway after a smuggler dumped them on the roadside. Police said the group consisted of 41 Iraqis, five Afghans, five Eritreans, and two Syrians.

They were found early Sunday about 12 miles northeast of Thessaloniki, Greece’s second-largest city, and said they had paid a smuggling gang $2,300 each to be driven there in a truck from the Turkish border. But the truck driver abandoned them on the highway and drove off.

Also Monday, Greek police at a border crossing with Turkey arrested a Turkish truck driver allegedly found carrying four Afghan migrants into Greece in his vehicle.

Associated Press