One-year-old dies after migrant boat breaks down off Greek island

He cautioned that it will take longer for authorities to process asylum applications. Most of the victims in recent weeks have been children.

Afghan refugees arrive on a dinghy on the Greek island of Lesbos.

Most migrants to Germany arrive in Bavaria.

They are also looking at speedier returns of migrants who have been denied asylum, including the controversial idea of linking development aid for countries in Africa to their accepting people sent back from Europe. Nemeth says “we should defend the Greek border together”.

She said the migration crisis “can only be resolved by nation states taking responsibility themselves – and protecting their own national borders”.

Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann cast doubt on the workability of the so-called migrant hotspots European leaders plan to create by the end of next month in Greece and Italy to help manage large numbers of refugees.

“In the past seven days, 8,899 people arrived here”. He says the government hopes to speed up management of the crisis. A first batch of 20 people, mostly Eritreans, will fly out of Italy to Sweden on Friday, said a spokeswoman for the European Commission, the EU executive.

On Friday, Sweden was to receive the first contingent of asylum seekers to be relocated under a much-contested European Union scheme.

“Today is an important day for the European Union, it is a day of victory… for those who believe in Europe, for those who believed in saving human lives”, Italian Interior Minister Angelino Alfano told journalists after the departure.

Italy for years has demanded Europe shoulder more of the burden of the continent’s refugee crisis. Although a short sea journey, it can be fatal as the unseaworthy and overloaded boats sometimes sink.

Most have rapidly headed north towards Germany.

Meanwhile, a wooden boat carrying carrying about 100 refugees has run aground on the small eastern Aegean island of Leros, Greece’s coastguard said.

It said the child was on board a dinghy with 55 others, who said they were Syrians, when the vessel began to take on water as it approached the shore of Lesbos.

In the Lesbos incident, the coast guard rescued 56 people from the sea Thursday night after the rear part of their dinghy burst, partially sinking the boat.

He was found unconscious by a coast guard patrol boat, and medics were unable to revive him.