Number of migrants reaching Greece surges again

Hundreds of migrants and refugees have arrived on Greek islands after days of low numbers, despite a European Union-Turkey agreement under which new arrivals will be sent back to Turkey.

Figures released by the Greek government Wednesday showed 766 people reached the islands of Lesvos, Samos, Chios and Kos in the 24 hours until Wednesday morning. The number is a roughly a three-fold jump compared with arrivals in previous days, when weather conditions had been poorer.

The increase comes a day after the EU noted the number of arrivals had dropped sharply over the previous week.

Under an EU-Turkey agreement, Ankara is supposed to stop migrants reaching Europe and take back all people from Greece who do not qualify for asylum.

[AP]