Border guards

The bodies of 24 migrants, including 10 children, were discovered off the Greek island of Samos Jan. 28 after their boat capsized, the Greek coastguard said.

Eleven people from a dinghy carrying 45 people were still listed as missing following the latest tragedy involving overladen migrant boats crossing the Aegean Sea from Turkey to Greece.    

Another boat tragedy involving children was noted off the straits of the island of Samos. A boat carrying migrants attempting the perilous crossing capsized under unknown circumstances, resulting in 12 drownings. Among the dead were three little girls, five little boys, three men and a woman, however it is believed that the number of victims will rise as the investigation is continuing.

Greek authorities say a total of seven bodies, including those of two children, have been recovered from the sea off the eastern Aegean island of Kos after a boat carrying migrants or refugees sank early Jan. 27.

Rescue crews recovered the bodies of three men, two women, a boy and a girl. There were two survivors - a man and a woman.

Alternate Migration Policy Minister Yiannis Mouzalas on Monday criticized pressures on Greece concerning the refugee crisis, adding that Greece’s exclusion from the Schengen Zone would not solve any problems. He instructed the European Commission to explore a procedure to extend temporary internal border checks within the Schengen area for up to two years.

Hundreds of people protested in north-east Greece on Jan. 24 against the security fence along the Turkish border, demanding the opening of safe routes for migrants, two days after 45 died making the risky Aegean Sea crossing.

Greece wants EU border agency Frontex to help send back to Turkey migrants deemed ineligible for asylum in Europe, Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias told reporters on Jan. 23.

The minister's comments came a day after he shared this proposal with his German counterpart Frank-Walter Steimeier in Berlin, Greek news agency ANA and a ministry source said.    

Greek police, the European Commission and Frontex held a meeting on Friday at the Citizen Protection Ministry in Athens and discussed the readmission and repatriation of undocumented migrants.

A new migrant tragedy took place east of the small Greek Aegean island of Farmakonisi at dawn on Friday. Seven migrants, including six small children, lost their lives in the tragedy.

Greek Coast Guards confirmed that a wooden dinghy carrying migrants crashed into rocks resulting in one woman and six children meeting a tragic death.

Greek authorities have denied any involvement in the Jan. 5 migrant tragedy in the Aegean Sea, citing reports in several Turkish media outlets to that end. 

The EU agency for external borders, Frontex, heightened its presence in Greece in order to support the country in dealing with the unprecedented number of migrants arriving on its islands.

This was done by launching the Poseidon Rapid Intervention on Monday, which replaces the Joint Operation Poseidon Sea with a larger number of officers and technical equipment.