European Border and Coast Guard

Greek authorities found on Thursday the body of a second woman who went missing when a dinghy carrying dozens of migrants capsized off the island of Lesvos on Wednesday.

The body was found on a rocky beach at Xambella, at the eastern coast of the island, according to state-run news agency ANA-MPA.

A search and rescue operation has been launched in the eastern Aegean Sea after a dinghy carrying migrants either sank or overturned off the Greek island of Lesvos, the Greek coast guard said Wednesday.

At least 32 migrants have been rescued from a boat off the Greek island of Lesvos since the incident was first reported on Wednesday morning, authorities said.

The operation, east of the Aegean island close to Turkey, was still in progress.

European Union lawmakers lashed out Tuesday at the head of Frontex over allegations that the border and coast guard agency helped illegally stop migrants or refugees entering Europe, calling for his resignation and demanding an independent inquiry.

The head of the European Union's border and coast guard agency faces a grilling on Tuesday by EU lawmakers as pressure mounts over allegations that Frontex was involved in illegal pushbacks aimed at preventing migrants or refugees entering Europe through the Greek islands.

The claim that the Hellenic Coast Guard carried out pushbacks of illegal migrants with the tolerance of executives of the European Union border protection agency Frontex will be further investigated by a special committee after a board meeting decision this week.

Arrivals of irregular migrants via Greece's land border with Turkey doubled on Tuesday, Kathimerini understands, with police intercepting more than 400 people in the border areas of Tychero and Ferres within 24 hours. 

The influx was significantly greater than in previous days when border guards stopped between 200 and 250 asylum seekers daily. 

A Turkish patrol boat sailed into Greek waters on Thursday and made dangerous maneuvers close to a ship belonging to the European border agency Frontex and also near a Greek fishing boat, the Shipping Ministry in Athens said.

Authorities are concerned over a possible spike in migrant inflows after a third boat arrived on the eastern Aegean island of Lesvos since the beginning of May on Sunday, with 36 people on board from Afghanistan and African countries.

The migrants were transferred to a makeshift structure in Megala Therma for 14 days of quarantine.

Frontex expects a fresh wave of migrants seeking to cross the Turkish border into the European Union via Greece after Ankara lifts restrictions imposed to stop the spread of coronavirus, German newspaper Die Welt reported Friday citing an internal report of the bloc's border agency.