Three minors die, 19 migrants rescued at Greece’s Chios island

ATHENS (Reuters) -Greece has recovered the bodies of three minors and rescued 19 migrants after their dinghy hit rocks at the island of Chios in the Aegean Sea near Turkey, the coastguard said on Wednesday.

Greece has been a favoured gateway to the European Union for migrants and refugees from the Middle East, Africa and Asia since 2015 when nearly 1 million people landed on its islands.

Numbers dropped significantly before rising again last year to 41,561 arrivals by sea. Some 10,163 migrants have reached Greece by sea so far this year.

(Reporting by Alkis Konstantinidis; Writing by Angeliki Koutantou; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)