More than 500 people have died or are missing since the beginning of the year in the Aegean. Rescue efforts were under way Tuesday morning, the coastguard said.
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Athens/Berlin/Geneva: Eight migrants drowned and at least another three were missing after their inflatable boat sank off the Greek island of Kos early on Tuesday, the coastguard said.
The boat, which came from nearby Turkey and capsized overnight, was spotted by the crew of a Finnish ship participating in operations by Frontex, the EU’s border security agency.
More than 600,000 refugees and migrants fleeing Syria, Afghanistan and other war-torn countries have arrived in Greece from Turkey this year, risking the short but perilous sea crossing, often on inflatable rafts.
“Ensuring the safety and security of North Dakotans, as well as all Americans, is a top priority for us all, and so I urge the administration to halt the resettlement of Syrian refugees in the USA until the system has been reviewed and we can be assured that our citizens will be safe”, Dalrymple said.
She described as “disturbing” rhetoric from a few countries suggesting they might walk back on previously made commitments. Obama said. “It is very important that we do not close our hearts to these victims of such violence and somehow start equating the issue of refugees with the issue of terrorism”.
European populist and far-right leaders have seized on the miliant attacks in Paris to demand the continent stem the record migrant influx.
It was not immediately clear how the boat overturned, or what the passengers’ nationality was.
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Athens fears coming under new European Union pressure over the migrant crisis after the discovery at the scene of one of Friday’s Paris attacks of a Syrian passport registered in the Greek island of Leros on October 3.
