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13 dead in migrant boat collision with ferry off Turkey

The accident happened close to the port of Canakkale.

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A Greek police man gives instuction as migrants whose boat stalled at sea while crossing from Turkey to Greece approach a shore of the island of Lesbos, Greece, on Sunday, September 20, 2015.

A further 26 people are missing after an inflatable boat sank off the Greek island of Lesbos.

Hungary, which closed its border with Serbia on September 15, erected another steel barrier at the Beremend border crossing from Croatia to try to slow the flow of migrants.

The Greek coastguard said it had rescued 22 people from a boat that sank off Lesbos, in what was suspected to be the same incident.

In a week of bloodshed, skirmishes, disappointment and utter confusion for the throngs of people trudging through the Balkans and Eastern Europe, trying to flee war and turmoil in the Middle East, the stalemate in Edirne has been one more hot spot in a continent full of them. The state news agency ANA said there were children among those missing, but the coastguard declined to comment.

“They are threatening us that Syrians will be deported to Syria, Iraqis to Iraq“, said one of the survivors.

The passengers were thrown into the water. Many of them, particularly those who have lost family members, including children, are severely traumatized. Twenty-seven interviewees, including three children, said they experienced abuse at the hands of Macedonian officials at the border with Greece.

Two coast guard vessels headed to the area and have rescued 20 people.

Coast guard officials said some 29 people were rescued in the two incidents, which followed another sinking near Lesbos Saturday, in which a 5-year-old girl drowned.

Austria saw the arrival of at least 10,000 migrants on Saturday and 7,000 more crowded the Nickelsdorf crossing with Hungary on Sunday.

Hungary’s now building a fence along the border with its European Union neighbour.

Romanian Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu called Hungary’s actions “autistic and unacceptable”. That was a reference to corruption charges filed recently against Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta.

What is the next route through Europe? Divisions in the EU over how to deal with the migrant crisis will also be discussed by European leaders at an emergency meeting in Brussels on Wednesday.

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As one of the boats starts to take water, a migrant dumps his only belonging into the sea, a bag carrying his phone charger, a few clothes and some medicine.

One of two 8-month-old babies from Syria peers out of a space blanket after arriving on the Greek island of Lesbos from Turkey on Monday. The infant's nearby sibling appears deep in sleep