ATHENS, Greece — Greece’s coast guard said it had recovered the bodies of 17 migrants from a half-sunken boat off the island of Crete on Saturday evening, as well as two survivors, in what appeared to be Greece’s deadliest smuggling boat wreck in more than two years.

Greek authorities were alerted to the episode Saturday by a Turkish cargo ship in the area, about 30 nautical miles off Crete’s southwestern coast, after the crew spotted a half-submerged boat with people in it, an official at Greece’s Ministry of Maritime Affairs said.

The initial announcement from the coast guard said 18 bodies had been recovered, but the official corrected this to 17, and said that the two survivors told officials that no one else was missing from the boat.

The toll is the highest since the sinking of a

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