Child killed after migrant boat capsizes in Aegean Sea

A child has died after a dinghy carrying refugees and migrants from Turkey to Greece capsized off the Greek island of Lesvos in the northeastern Aegean Sea on Monday, the Greek Coast Guard has said.

A total of 48 people were on board the dinghy when the incident took place, the Coast Guard said, adding that another child was transfered to hospital and is in a stable condition after being rescued.

Greece has tightened patrols at sea and deployed additional police and army forces on its border with Turkey, after Ankara said last week it would no longer prevent refugees from reaching Europe’s borders.

At least five boats, carrying around 200 people, have reached Lesvos so far as of Monday, while about 1,000 refugees and migrants have landed on Greece’s eastern Aegean islands since Sunday, Greek national news agency AMNA reported.

Meanwhile, the Greek government said Sunday that approximately 10,000 attempts to cross land borders had been prevented in recent days, while a few dozen people who had managed to illegally enter Greece had been arrested.

More than 13,000 people have gathered on Turkey’s land border with Greece, according to the United Nations International Organization for Migration.

On Tuesday, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis will visit the Evros region, where many refugees have entered Greece via the Evros River in inflatable boats, with European Council President Charles Michel, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Parliament President David Sassoli, the prime minister’s office said Monday.

Greece has requested its European peers support its efforts to safeguard the continent’s borders.

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Source: Xinhua