Four migrants died trying to reach the Greek island of Lesbos after Turkey opened its borders, according to Deutsche Welle Turkish service.
The report indicated that Turkey’s coast guard on Sunday saw smoke rising from a boat carrying some 35 migrants and later helped the dinghy come ashore.
However, a women and two children lost their lives despite the intervention.
Meanwhile, Reuters confirmed that a child died on Monday after a boat carrying 46 migrants capsized.
The Greek coast guard said the boat that capsized off Lesbos had been escorted there by a Turkish vessel. Forty-six people were rescued and two children taken to a hospital, one of whom could not be revived.
Another dinghy with about 30 Afghans arrived on Lesbos early in the morning, a Reuters journalist reported from the island. Thirty-two others were rescued in the seas off Farmakonissi, a small island close to Turkey, the coast guard said.
The DW report said migrants who were waiting to take the sea route to reach the Greek island were put on busses and sent to the Turkish-Greek border at Edirne, despite the reluctance of many.
Separately, two Turkish security sources told Reuters a Syrian migrant had died from injuries on Monday after Greek security forces intervened to prevent migrants from crossing into Greece from Turkey, but Athens branded the claim “fake news.”
The latest migrant surge follows Turkey’s decision to stop enforcing a 2016 agreement with the European Union whereby it prevented migrants entering the bloc in return for billions of euros in aid.
