Lesbos

One woman died and another two were rescued from the sea off the eastern Greek island of Lesvos Friday, in an incident involving an inflatable dinghy carrying Somali migrants.

Greece's coast guard said 24 migrants who were located safe on shore early Friday told authorities that three women in their party had fallen into the sea as the boat approached Lesbos, and were still missing.

A medical examiner on the eastern Aegean island of Lesvos is due to investigate whether a 3-year-old girl found unconscious and bleeding in a bathroom at the makeshift Kara Tepe migrant camp on Monday was the victim of a sexual assault.

The Museum of Natural History of the Petrified Forest of Lesvos has announced the discovery this week of a large and intact fossilized tree complete with its branches and roots during excavations carried out along the Kalloni-Sigri road on the eastern Aegean island.

Greece urged Turkey on Tuesday to do more to thwart irregular crossings of migrants into its territory, saying recent arrivals, particularly from Somalia, appeared to be coordinated.

More than half of arrivals on the Greek island of Lesvos from November 1 were from Somalia, whose nationals crossed from Turkey, Migration Minister Notis Mitarakis told a news briefing.

Greek Migration Minister Notis Mitarakis on Friday sent a letter to European Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson and UNHCR Representative in Greece Philippe Leclerc on a migrant boat wreck that claimed the lives of two women on Thursday.

Greece and the European Union have agreed to a timeline for the construction of a new up-to-standard center for the reception and identification of migrants on the eastern Aegean island of Lesvos, the European Commission announced on Thursday.

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.

The body of one of the two women that went missing after a dinghy carrying migrants boat sank off the northeastern coast of the island of Lesvos on Wednesday morning was recovered later in the day. 

A search and rescue operation by the Hellenic Coast Guard and the European Union border agency Frontex was ongoing in the area late on Wednesday to locate the other woman.

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.