aid groups

A fire in a severely overcrowded migrant camp in Greece forced hundreds of people into the streets, compounding their plight with more refugees arriving on Greek islands daily in what an aid group called a worsening "nightmare."

More than 1,000 migrants and refugees have died in the Mediterranean Sea this year, the sixth year in a row that this "bleak milestone" has been reached, the United Nations said on Tuesday.

The UN refugee agency UNHCR called for European Union (EU) member states to reactivate search and rescue operations and acknowledge the crucial role of aid groups' vessels in saving lives at sea.

Bahamians rescued victims of Hurricane Dorian with jet skis and a bulldozer as the U.S. Coast Guard, Britain's Royal Navy and a handful of aid groups tried to get food and medicine to survivors and take the most desperate people to safety.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis is convening a meeting of his top security officials for Saturday to discuss a spike in migrant arrivals to the country's eastern Aegean islands from the nearby Turkish coast.

Greece's Supreme Court prosecutor Xeni Dimitriou has ordered an investigation into whether two incidents involving attacks on migrants should be treated as racially motivated and charges should be brought against individuals involved in the assaults.

Amnesty International's Greek chapter on Monday reiterated its call for greater solidarity for refugees in a post on Twitter on Monday, a day after it projected the message "Humanity First" on the Acropolis Hill in a symbolic protest marking the third anniversary of the signing of a deal between the European Union and Turkey to curb undocumented migration. 

Greece moved another 400 people from its biggest migrant camp on Tuesday as the International Rescue Committee (IRC) charity warned of a mental health emergency there with 30 percent of people having attempted suicide.

Greek authorities have arrested two aid workers and are investigating a total of 30 from the same organization on the island of Lesvos on suspicion they smuggled migrants into Greece, spied and laundered money, police said on Tuesday.

Five members of foreign aid groups accused of attempting to smuggle migrants into Greece were cleared by a Lesvos court on Monday. 

The five are three Spanish firefighters, who came to Greece at the peak of the refugee crisis to work for the Spanish group Proem-Aid, and two members of Danish non-government organization Team Humanity.

Five members of foreign aid groups accused of attempting to smuggle migrants into Greece were cleared by a Lesvos court on Monday. 

The five are three Spanish firefighters, who came to Greece at the peak of the refugee crisis to work for the Spanish group Proem-Aid, and two members of Danish non-government organization Team Humanity.