Local fishermen and volunteers rescued refugees from a sinking boat off the Greek island of Lesbos in the early hours of Friday morning. In dramatic photos, men women and children are seen clinging to the side of the boat as it tilts precariously in the surf.
The Syrian Kurdish refugees were trying to cross from Turkey to Greece, joining the nearly 300,000 people who have made their first arrival in Europe on the beaches of Lesbos. Journalists at the scene said rescue workers from the Spanish charity Pro-Activa Open Arms pulled nearly 100 people from the water. It was not immediately clear if everyone on board has been accounted for.
This week has been particularly tragic in this area. Smugglers have started packing more people onto larger boats, rather than relying on the small rubber dinghies that typically made the journey in the past. Earlier this week, a boat carrying hundreds of people capsized near Lesbos, killing 11 people, including several children. On Friday alone, more than 20 people drowned in two different shipwrecks of the coast of the country. It's the largest tragedy in Greek waters since this began.
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