Authorities recovered the bodies of four people, including two children, and rescued six people after a boat carrying migrants overturned off the coast of the eastern Aegean island of Lesvos Wednesday.

The coast guard said the bodies of one girl, one boy, a man and a woman had been retrieved from the sea while six survivors had been rescued.

The first two people rescued had told authorities they had been in an inflatable dinghy with another nine people when the vessel capsized as it headed to the island from the nearby Turkish coast.

Vessels from the Greek coast guard and the European border agency Frontex were involved in the search and rescue operation, which was continuing.

Lesvos has been the main arrival point for hundreds of thousands of refugees and migrants heading to Europe. But numbers of new arrivals have fallen dramatically following a March deal between the European Union and Turkey to limit the refugee flow.

Many have died during the short but dangerous crossing, when their unseaworthy and overcrowded boats have capsized or sunk.

[AP]

