6 refugees drown after boat capsizes in Aegean

A man shouts as she holds a child after their arrival on a dinghy from the Turkish coast to the northeastern Greek island of Lesbos on Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2015.

The migrants in questions, mostly Moroccans and Pakistanis, were led away to buses, ten of which left for Athens in the morning, according to the police source.

With Macedonian authorities only letting through refugees from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, migrants from other countries have been blocked on the border with Greece for days or even weeks. “The last week, it is being estimated that more than 39 lost their lives during their journey to Greece while more than 40 migrants are still missing from incidents which were recorded off the coasts of Lesvos and Farmakonisi”, IOM reported in its September report. But it is driven by frustration that Greek failure to control large numbers arriving by sea is putting the EU’s open-borders Schengen zone at risk. Rescuers were searching for two other migrants who were reported missing. It said the accident occurred early Wednesday when a wooden boat carrying the migrants from Turkey sank near the islet of Farmakonissi.

Police said 10 migrants were detained for resisting their transfer to the buses.

The humanitarian workers were asked to leave the area during the operation while journalists and photographs were told to keep the distance of about three kilometers “to protect them from any possible violence, tension or threatening and aggressive behavior”.

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble says it is necessary for the European Union to better protect its external border to be able to cope with the current wave of migrants.

The Turkish Coast Guard also rescued two refugees, as five others managed to swim to the Turkish mainland. Greece is the main point of entry into Europe for the refugees, and the influx has become tough to handle for the country, which is already going through its worst financial crisis in decades.

Reports from Istanbul say six Afghan children, including a 6-month-old baby, have died after a boat carrying refugees capsized in the Aegean Sea off the western coast of Turkey.

At least 26 people have been rescued alive.

More than 230 people have drowned in Greek waters so far this year, as about 770,000 refugees and migrants from the Middle East and Africa crossed to the Aegean islands in flimsy boats provided by smuggling rings.