Migrant boat sinks; 11 dead, 10 people rescued

At least 11 people, majority children, have died after a migrant boat sank off an eastern Greek island, the country’s coast guard said.

An average of roughly 1,500 people a day have arrived on the Greek islands, some of which are as little as four kilometres from Turkey across the choppy Aegean Sea, so far in 2016.

Ten people have been rescued while an as yet unclear number of passengers were still missing, Greek Coast Guard officers said as the rescue operation was underway.

The alert was raised by one of the survivors, who managed to swim to shore.

There was no information yet on the migrants’ country of origin.

The statistics confirm the desperation by many to flee war and risk their lives to reach Europe regardless of newly built fences, border controls and rough seas.

A week ago, 40 people died when boats smuggling migrants capsize in two seperate incidents off the Greek island of Kalolimnos and the Turkish resort of Didim.

The latest tragedy comes as swamped Greek authorities are under pressure from their European counterparts to staunch the migrant flow.

The European Commission has hit out at overwhelmed Greek authorities, saying in a report published on Wednesday that Athens had “seriously neglected” its duty to protect the bloc’s frontiers.

Last year, Greece received over 850,000 arrivals.