1 child dead, 6 persons missing as migrant boat overturns off Greece

July 13, 2016 01:06 pm | Updated 01:06 pm IST - ATHENS

A search and rescue operation was underway off the coast of the eastern Aegean island of Lesbos on Wednesday after a boat carrying migrants overturned, leaving a child dead and six people missing.

The coast guard said the body of a girl had been retrieved from the sea while four survivors had been rescued. The first two had told authorities they had been in an inflatable dinghy with another nine people when the vessel capsized as it headed to the island from the nearby Turkish coast.

Vessels from the Greek coast guard and the European border agency Frontex were searching for the missing.

Lesbos has been the main arrival point for hundreds of thousands of refugees and migrants heading to Europe. But numbers of new arrivals have fallen dramatically following a March deal between the Eurooean Union and Turkey to limit the refugee flow.

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