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Traces of migrant crisis fade from Lesbos beaches three years later
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In 2015, Lesbos was the main gateway to Europe for nearly a million refugees and migrants. Arrivals have slowed significantly since a European Union deal with Turkey in 2016, but a steady flow is putting pressure on island facilities. Photographer Aris Messinis revisited the landing sites.
Above, tourists walk on a beach near the village of Skala Sikaminias on the Greek island of Lesbos on Aug. 3, 2018. Below, migrants arrive at the same place after crossing the Aegean sea from Turkey on Oct. 29, 2015.
At the height of the influx, some 5,000 refugees and migrants, mostly from war-torn Syria, were landing on the island's beaches on a daily basis. Hundreds never survived the journey across the Aegean Sea. More than 800 people, including many children, died in 2015 in the eastern Mediterranean. The situation quickly reached emergency proportions for beleaguered Lesbos as authorities tried to regulate the flow, register the exhausted survivors, and find shelter for them.
Above, a woman sunbathes on a beach near the village of Skala Sikaminias on Lesbos on Aug. 3, 2018. Below, a man walks amid life jackets along the shore as refugees and migrants arrive after crossing the Aegean Sea from Turkey on Sept. 27, 2015.
Greece wants EU authorities to provide more funds and support staff to help it cope with thousands of migrants and refugees stuck in island camps, Migration Minister Dimitris Vitsas said on July 18, 2018.
Above, a man stands on Kagia beach near the village of Skala Sikaminias, on Lesbos on Aug. 3, 2018. Below, migrants arrive at the same place after crossing the Aegean Sea from Turkey, on Dec. 8, 2015.
Five Greek islands, including Lesbos, are hosting some 18,000 migrants, nearly twice the capacity of state-run facilities, according to government data.
Above, belongings of a bather on a beach near the village of Skala Sikaminias on Lesbos on Aug. 3, 2018. Below, the body of a man lies on a beach on Lesbos, on Nov. 1, 2015, after boats carrying migrants and refugees trying to cross the Aegean Sea from Turkey sank.
Above, wrecked boats and thousands of life jackets used by refugees and migrants during their journey across the Aegean Sea lay in a dump in Mithymna on Lesbos on Aug. 4, 2018. Below, the same picture taken on Feb. 19, 2016.
While the vast majority of migrants seeking to reach Europe from Africa and the Middle East are now crossing further to the west, the eastern Mediterranean route remains in use.
