Girl dies, 13 refugees missing as boat capsizes in Aegean Sea

Athens: A five-year-old girl died and at least 13 refugees and migrants went missing on Saturday after a boat taking dozens of people from Turkey to Greece overturned off Lesvos island, the Greek Coast Guard said.

The Coast Guard officers who rushed to the site after being alerted by a Greek armed forces patrol recovered the girl`s body and rescued 12 people, reported Xinhua news agency.

Around 26 people were aboard when the boat capsized off Lesvos island, the survivors told Greek authorities.

The tragedy occurred just a week after 34 people, among them 15 infants and children, died under similar circumstances off the island of Farmakonissi in the Aegean Sea.

About 3,000 people have perished across the Mediterranean this year trying to reach Europe, according to the International Organisation of Migration (IOM).