Syrian refugees who arrived on the Greek island of Kos this weekend on a small dinghy celebrated by taking photos with a selfie stick. The moment of joy and relief after a risky journey from Turkey was captured by Reuters photographer Yannis Behrakis.
As the overcrowded boat approached the beach, tourists were bathing and tanning.
Over the weekend, Greece’s coast guard rescued more than 1,400 migrants in 60 search missions on the Aegan Sea. More than 50,000 migrants and refugees arrived in Greece in July, which is more than in all of 2014. The country’s prime minister Alexis Tsipras called it a “crisis within a crisis,” referring to the country’s economic woes. Many of the migrants make their way to the Greek islands from Turkey, and then continue their journey to more affluent EU countries.
As many as 70% of the migrants who arrived in Greece in July were Syrian.