Last week 20,843 migrants - almost all fleeing war and persecution in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan - arrived there, nearly half of the total for the whole of last year, the New Indian Express reported/

Since the start of this year, more than 160,000 migrants have reached Greece - nearly four times the 43,500 who arrived in all of 2014, the UN refugee agency said.

Many die trying: six Syrian refugees including a baby drowned while crossing from Turkey when their 30ft boat overturned.

Two more men and a child survived for hours in an air pocket inside the capsized craft's hull before being rescued by divers.

William Spindler, spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), said: "The pace of arrivals has been steadily increasing in recent weeks. "For months, UNHCR has been warning of a mounting refugee crisis on the Greek islands."

The European Union's border control agency, Frontex, said 107,500 people had arrived outside regular channels last month.

This was a sharp increase on the previous highest total of more than 70,000 set in June - and more than three times as many as the same month last year.