NICOSIA: Cypriot police said the body of a man was retrieved off the Mediterranean island鈥檚 western coast Thursday after newly arrived migrants said one among them had fallen overboard.
Police said a group of 44 Syrians 鈥� including two women and four children 鈥� were found wandering in the Peyia area north of Paphos.
The migrants told police that a man on the boat they were traveling in had gone missing before they reached the shore.
Authorities launched a rescue operation, and the body of a man was discovered in the waters.
A police official said the body was found after an extensive search using a helicopter, but it had yet to be formally identified.
The missing migrant was reported to be a 24-year-old Syrian.
Police believe the Syrians were smuggled from Turkey and dropped off pre-dawn before the boat departed.
Cyprus has complained that people smugglers have driven a huge rise in asylum seekers landing on its shores from Turkey in recent years.
The small EU state has lobbied Brussels to take action over the 鈥渄isproportionate鈥� numbers of asylum seekers it receives.
After being processed, the migrants who arrived on Thursday morning will be transferred to a reception center outside the capital Nicosia.