Hundreds of migrants saved by Greek coast guard

Numbers don’t include those who reached islands safely

ATHENS, GREECE— Greece’s coast guard rescued hundreds of migrants in more than a dozen search-and-rescue operations, including one in which a toddler died after being found unconscious in an overcrowded dinghy, authorities said Wednesday.

The coast guard said it picked up 534 migrants off the eastern Aegean Islands of Lesbos, Chios, Agathonisi, Samos, Farmakonisi and Kos in the 24 hours to Wednesday morning — and another 108 during the day Wednesday off Agathonisi and Chios. Those numbers do not include the hundreds more who managed to reach the islands on their own in overcrowded dinghies.

Separately, it said the little boy of about 2 or 3 years old was found unconscious in a dinghy carrying 54 migrants that was spotted by a patrol helicopter off Samos. A coast guard vessel picked the group up and the child was taken to a hospital, but he died, the coast guard said.

Greece has seen record numbers of migrant arrivals this year, most fleeing conflicts in Syria and Afghanistan and arriving on Greek islands from the nearby Turkish coast. About 160,000 migrants have reached Greece so far since January, compared to 43,500 for all of 2014, according to figures from the UN refugee agency.

Few — if any — of those who arrive want to stay in Greece, which is reeling from a financial crisis and has an unemployment rate of more than 26 per cent. Instead, they head to Greece’s northern border with Macedonia, cross the Balkans and head to more prosperous European countries such as Germany.