11 migrants drown off Greek island Samos

Eleven migrants, including six children - four of them babies - have drowned in a new tragedy off the Greek island of Samos.

Ten of the dead were found in the cabin of the boat, which overturned as it made the hazardous crossing from the nearby Turkish coast, coastguards say.

The final victim, a young girl, was washed up on the island, where dozens of refugees have died trying to reach Europe in recent days.

Two others were still missing with coastguards saying 15 were plucked from the water after the boat turned over only 20 metres from the shore.

The latest drownings come after 22 migrants, including 13 children, drowned off the Greek islands of Kalymnos and Rhodes on Friday.

Another 144 people were rescued, officials said.

Since the beginning of the year, 580,125 migrants have landed on Greece's shores, according to the UN's refugee agency (UNHCR), with a total of 723,221 crossing the Mediterranean to Europe.