Migrant child dies after boat capsizes off Greece

KASTANIES (Greece) • A young Syrian boy died yesterday after being pulled from the sea after a boat capsized off the Greek island of Lesbos, said Greek officials. This was the first reported fatality since Turkey opened its border last week to let migrants reach Europe.

More than 10,000 migrants, mostly from Syria, Afghanistan and other Middle Eastern states, have reached Turkey's land borders with European Union states Greece and Bulgaria since Ankara said last Thursday that it would stop keeping them on its territory.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned yesterday that "millions" of migrants will soon head for Europe, as he mounted pressure on Western countries to give Turkey more assistance with the Syrian conflict.

Mr Erdogan warned Europe that it will have to shoulder its part of the refugee crisis triggered by violence in the region.

"After we opened the doors, there were multiple calls saying 'close the doors'. I told them, 'It's done. It's finished. The doors are now open. Now you will have to take your share of the burden,'" he said.

The latest migrant surge follows Turkey's decision to stop enforcing a 2016 agreement with the EU, under which it prevents migrants from entering the bloc in return for billions of euros in aid.

Turkey, already home to 3.7 million Syrian refugees, has another million arriving on its doorstep from a new surge of fighting in northern Syria, and says it cannot handle any more.

Greek and Turkish police fired tear gas into crowds caught between their fences in no man's land over the weekend.

At least 1,000 migrants have reached Greece's eastern Aegean Islands, where Lesbos is located, since Sunday morning, Greek police say.

The Greek coast guard said the boat which capsized off Lesbos yesterday had been escorted there by a Turkish vessel. Forty-six people were rescued and two children taken to hospital, one of whom could not be revived.

Another dinghy with about 30 Afghans arrived on Lesbos early in the morning, a Reuters journalist reported from the island.

Officials have spoken of an "invasion" of people waiting to board boats across the island of Lesbos.

"This is an invasion," Greek Development Minister Adonis Georgiadis told Skai TV yesterday.

Mr Georgios Arabatzakis, the village chief of Marasia, on the banks of the river that runs along the Greek-Turkish border, said: "People here used to give refugees water and clothing, but the situation now looks like an invasion."

Greek officials have accused Turkey of orchestrating a coordinated effort to drive migrants across the frontier.

A Greek policeman accused Turkish soldiers at the Kastanies border gate in northern Greece of "giving cutters" to migrants to cut holes in the fence to get through. Reuters could not independently verify the report.

Greek government spokesman Stelios Petsas said yesterday that a video circulating on social media showing a young man with head wounds laid out on the ground near the border was "fake news".

Turkish security sources said the Syrian man had died of his wounds.

It was not clear how the migrant had been wounded. A witness told Reuters that the incident had occurred some 40m from Turkey's Ipsala border gate with Greece.

REUTERS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, BLOOMBERG