Child drowns at sea off Greece in first fatality

A child died after being pulled from the sea when a boat capsized on Monday off the Greek island of Lesbos, Greek officials said, the first reported fatality since Turkey opened its border last week to let migrants reach Europe.   

Separately, two Turkish security sources told Reuters a Syrian migrant had died from injuries on March 1 after Greek security forces intervened to prevent migrants crossing from Turkey into Greece, but Athens branded the claim "fake news".   

More than 10,000 migrants, mostly from Syria, other Middle Eastern states and Afghanistan, have reached Turkey's land borders with EU states Greece and Bulgaria since Ankara said on Feb. 27 it would stop keeping them on its territory.   

Further south, at least 1,000 migrants have reached Greece's eastern Aegean islands since March 1 morning, Greek police say.   

The Greek coast guard said the boat which capsized off Lesbos had been escorted there by a Turkish vessel. Forty-six people were rescued and two children taken to 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.   

"This is an invasion," Development Minister Adonis Georgiadis told Skai TV on March 2.    

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.   

Turkey, already home to 3.7 million Syrian refugees, has another million arriving on its doorstep from a new surge of fighting in northern Syria and says...