Lesvos swamped by refugee flood; no relief in sight

MYTILENE - An inflatable dinghy touches the shore in darkness. Dozens of men, women and children jump into the shallow water, stumbling on unseen rocks as they scramble onto a narrow strip of seaweed-strewn beach.

"Are we in Greece?" one man asks as he ditches his life jacket. They are ? on the northeastern Aegean island of Lesvos. The group breaks out in jubilation. Men hug each other, couples snap selfies, children flash the victory sign.

The four dozen Syrians and Iraqis have just made a treacherous, three-hour journey from Turkey crammed into a dinghy designed to carry less than half their number. They trudge for miles into the island?s main town of Mytilene, joining a flood of thousands of refugees and migrants in Greece that has stretched authorities to the limit ? especially at a time when the country is teetering on the brink of financial ruin.

Lesvos, Greeces third-largest island, is bearing the brunt of the crisis. More than 25,000 people have arrived on the island of about 80,000 inhabitants since the start of the year ? nearly half of the 55,000 who have reached Greece by sea from Turkey.

The figure is a staggering 620 percent increase for Lesvos from the same period last year, said Lesvos Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Antonios Sofiadelis, who is also the local coordinator for Europes boarder agency, Frontex. He said he needs more staff and more Frontex patrol vessels to cope.

"At the moment it?s something unreal ... the numbers of migrants who arrive are enormous," Sofiadelis said. "We are doing our duty, we are surpassing ourselves, we are working 24 hours a day, seven days a week. But this is now every day and as you understand fatigue sets in."

Night after night, the packed dinghies come ashore along Lesvos?...