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Migrant Boy Becomes 2016’s First Refugee Casualty

© AP Photo / Santi PalaciosMigrants disembark safely from their frail boat in bad weather on the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing the Aegean see from Turkey, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2015.
Migrants disembark safely from their frail boat in bad weather on the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing the Aegean see from Turkey, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2015. - Sputnik International
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A Syrian toddler named Khalid has become this year’s first casualty of the Mediterranean refugee crisis after a boat with Europe-bound refugees sank Saturday off a Greek island, a rescue ship, Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS), announced.

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MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The boat rammed into jagged rocks off a remote Greek island of Agathonisi in the Aegean Sea. Local fishermen pulled at least 35 people from water hours after the crash.

The boy, reported to be two and travelling with his mother, drowned and another three-month old infant was severely hypothermic, the migration charity said. A total of eleven people were injured as a result of their boat's violent impact against the rocks.

"Today we came face to face with one of the youngest victims of this ongoing refugee crisis," MOAS founder Christopher Catrambone said. "It is a tragic reminder of the thousands of people who have died trying to reach safety in miserable conditions."

Europe is currently struggling to cope with a massive refugee influx, with hundreds of thousands of refugees and migrants fleeing conflict-torn countries in the Middle East and North Africa. According to the UN refugee agency, the Mediterranean Sea claimed over 3,600 lives last year.

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