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Greece returns 14 migrants to Turkey under European Union deal

In the last 24 hours, a total of 44 refugees and migrants have arrived at the Lesvos island.

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They were taken to Methoni to be processed and identified, according to harbour police, who revised their earlier figure of around 50 migrants rescued.

The Greek coast guard rescued 59 refugees attempting to cross the Aegean Sea Wednesday.

Greece’s coast guard has rescued more than 300 people since August 8 on nine migrant boats that have run into trouble in the Aegean Sea.

Greek authorities have returned to neighboring Turkey 14 migrants over the past two days, bringing to almost 500 the total of people sent back under this year’s deal between the European Union and Turkey.

The boat carrying about 70 people ran aground overnight on the tiny islet of Sapientza, off the southwestern tip of the Peloponnese, the coast guard said.

An aid group said Friday that five bodies had been recovered Thursday off the coast of Libya after a small wooden boat capsized about 22 nautical miles north. More specifically, 3,072 are found on Chios and 1,058 on Samos.

A woman sits by a wire fence with laundry hanging on it, while children play around her outside of disused Hellenikon airport, where stranded refugees and migrants are temporarily accommodated in Athens, Aug. 10, 2016. Many have officially applied for asylum.

After a major lull since the European Union (EU) signed a controversial deal with Turkey to stem the migrant influx in March, there has been a slight uptick in arrivals in Greece in recent days.

Increasing numbers of migrants have turned to alternate and more unsafe ways of getting to Europe following the implementation of the EU-Turkey deal and border closures on the Balkan route used past year by tens thousands of people.

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Furthermore, under new rules migrants who have arrived at the Greek islands can not continue on to the mainland, meaning that camps which are already at capacity are becoming increasingly overcrowded with worsening sanitation and rising frustration at the living conditions, Save the Children says.

100 migrants rescued after being stranded off Greece