2 more migrant tragedies

A 10-year-old Afghan boy was crushed to death Saturday on board an overcrowded boat carrying scores of migrants headed from Turkey to the Greek island of Lesbos, Greek news agency ANA reported.

Panic erupted when the 66 migrants on board the rickety vessel saw a patrol boat from European border agency Frontex approaching, afraid they would be taken back to Turkey, ANA said.

The boy was on the boat with his parents and two younger sisters. When she discovered her son had died in the chaos, his mother tried to end her life by jumping into the sea, only to be rescued by the coastguard.

Despite an EU-Turkey deal in 2016 aimed at stemming the migrant flow to Greece, refugees and migrants desperate for a fresh start continue to arrive on the southern European nation's shores -- with a spike in the numbers since this summer.

The casualties are far lower than in 2015 and 2016, when hundreds of people drowned, including several children.

Despite the relative improvement, tragedy continues to strike.

Yesterday, at least 25 migrants died after their boat sank off Libya's western coast and survivors were being brought back to port in Tripoli, Libyan coastguard officials said.

Libya is the main departure point for mostly African migrants trying to cross to Europe. Smugglers usually pack them into flimsy inflatable boats that often break down or sink.

Nearly 3,000 migrants are known to have died or be missing after trying to cross to Europe by sea this year, the majority of them between Libya and Italy. The International Organization for Migration said on Friday that since 2000 the Mediterranean had been "by far the world's deadliest border".