A group of refugees head to Refugee Center in Brezice, Slovenia, September 19, 2015. More than 1500 refugees arrived in Slovenia so far, 900 of them were processed at the reception center in Brezice and distributed to accommodation centers around the country. (Xinhua/Miso Lisanin)
ATHENS, Sept 20 (Xinhua) -- Twenty-six migrants or refugees are missing after a boat carrying them sank off the Greek island of Lesbos on Sunday, the coast guard said.
Twenty others were rescued, and a search and rescue operation was under way for the missing, according to a coastguard spokeswoman. The nationalities of the individuals were not immediately available.
"They (the migrants) told rescuers there were 46 people in the inflatable dinghy in total," she said.
A Lithuanian helicopter from the European border patrol agency Frontex spotted people in the sea off the southeastern coast of Lesbos early Sunday, according to the coast guard.
So far this year, hundreds of thousands of refugees, mostly Syrians and Afghans fleeing conflict at home, have arrived in Greece from the nearby Turkish coast.
Related:
Hungary accuses Croatia of "dumping" refugees on joint border
BUDAPEST, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto on Saturday slammed Croatia for sending buses and trains packed with migrants over their joint border.
Szijjarto called the Croatian authorities "shameless" for lying about having had Budapest's agreement in bringing masses of refugees over the border to Hungary, Hungarian wire service MTI reported.Full Story
Refugee issue has to be solved at its source: Croatian PM
ZAGREB, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- Croatian Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic said on Saturday that the refugee issue had to be solved at its source, reiterated his country "would not be a European refugee centre".
He said the problem had to be solved in Greece and Turkey and the arrival of new migrants could be prevented by the Greek coast guard. Full story
Finnish citizens protest against increased refugees
HELSINKI, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- Hundreds of people gathered in several cities in Finland to protest against immigration on Saturday, reported Finnish national broadcaster Yle.
About 200 people assembled in downtown Helsinki to oppose increasing refugees coming to Finland, shouting loudly "Finland belongs to Finns". Full story
