A young boy died when a makeshift boat packed with dozens of migrants capsized off the coast of Lesbos, the Greek port police said, as the number of people attempting to cross into Europe from Turkey surges.
Two children were found "unconscious" after the vessel overturned at around 08:30 am local time (0630 GMT) in the Aegean Sea. One of them could not be revived, while the other was taken to hospital, a spokeswoman said.
A further "46 people are safe" following the accident, the official said. No details were given on the nationality or age of the child.
Migrant numbers are spiking along the Greek border, the external edge of the European Union, after Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the country had "opened the doors" to Europe as he seeks to pressure the EU over the Syrian conflict and its humanitarian consequences.
A statement from the Greek coast guard said the boat that capsized had come from Turkey.
It was "overturned by the people on board after it entered Greek waters" the coast guard said, adding that this was a typical action of "smugglers to trigger a rescue operation".
More From This Section
The statement said 46 people were plucked from the waters unharmed, adding that the second injured child was "out of danger".
Some 1,300 asylum seekers have arrived on Greece's five Aegean islands close to the Turkish coast between Sunday morning and early Monday, according to Manos Logothetis of Greece's asylum service who said this was a "significant" increase.
Most of these have arrived in Lesbos, which hosts the overcrowded Moira camp, built to hold fewer than 3,000 people but which currently has more than 19,000.