Aris Messinis: Lesbos migrant crisis photos win French award Published duration 4 September 2016 Related Topics Europe migrant crisis

image copyright ARIS MESSINIS/ AFP image caption Mr Messinis stayed on Lesbos for months to photograph the crisis

A Greek photographer has won the Visa d'Or news photography prize for his coverage of the mass arrival of migrants on the island of Lesbos last year.

Aris Messinis worked for the French news agency AFP and has won prizes before for images taken in war zones.

He said he never thought he would cover this in his own country.

Notably, he has at times stepped out from behind the lens and helped the people he saw in difficulty.

One photograph that won him acclaim on social media was not taken by him but by a witness, who saw him carrying a refugee child to safety from the sea.

image copyright RAYMOND ROIG/ AFP image caption Mr Messinis said he never thought he would cover this kind of story in his own country, Greece

Mr Messinis said there was no conflict of interest between photographing and rescuing and it was a "normal human reflex".

"We try to keep our distance, to be objective," he said.

"But sometimes it is good to lend a hand to somebody who needs a hand. It is a personal decision."

The work is on display in Perpignan in southern France.

The Visa d'Or for news is considered the most prestigious award handed out at the Visa Pour L'Image festival.

At one point, 7,000 migrants a day were arriving on Lesbos - and many who tried to make the journey died at sea.

In 2016 a deal between Turkey and the EU saw seaborne migrants being returned to Turkey in exchange for Syrian refugees who had applied through official channels.

image copyright ARIS MESSINIS/ AFP image caption Pictures like this one underlined how unsafe the journey across the Aegean Sea was for many migrants

image copyright ARIS MESSINIS/ ADP image caption More unusually, Mr Messinis documented how hills of lifejackets were left behind by migrants who had arrived in Lesbos

image copyright ARIS MESSINIS/ AFP image caption After their boat sank in the Aegean, these Syrian refugees were rescued by Greek fishermen

image copyright ARIS MESSINIS/ AFP image caption A bleak landscape was the backdrop for these people's tents on Lesbos

image copyright ARIS MESSINIS/ AFP image caption The apprehension in this man's eyes is an example of the emotion that brings Mr Messinis's news photography to life

image copyright ARIS MESSINIS/ AFP image caption This woman had just arrived from Turkey

image copyright ARIS MESSINIS/ AFP image caption At least six children died on this day in December 2015, when the boat they were in capsized

image copyright ARIS MESSINIS/ AFP image caption He captured this peaceful moment when migrants slept under the stars on the Greek island