12 refugees drown as boat sinks off Greek island

Twelve people, including eight children, drowned Thursday as a boat carrying migrants and refugees from Turkey sank off a Greek island, Greek authorities announced.

A survivor who swam to the shore alerted authorities of the accident near the island of Samos.

So far the bodies of three men, one woman and eight children and infants have been found, and a rescue operation was under way to locate other survivors.

The precise number of people on board remains unclear.

A day earlier, seven people, including a six-year-old boy and a 12-month-old girl, died when their vessel sank off the island of Kos near Turkey.

Greece has been heavily criticized by EU countries of failing to effectively protect its borders, allowing hundreds of thousands of people to enter Europe. In 2015 more than 800,000 refugees landed on Greek shores via Turkey.

The European Commission, the executive body of the EU, has warned Athens that other members of the Schengen Agreement could give a three-month ultimatum to the country to improve the condition.

The Greek government dismissed the criticism as unfair, noting that EU partners have not provided adequate assistance to Greece and are not giving Turkey enough pressure. Endi