Three boats shipped scores of migrants from the Greek islands to Turkey on Monday, the first wave of deportations under a hotly contested pact to ease Europe's worst migration crisis since World War II, AFP reports.
As the sun rose over the Greek islands of Lesbos and Chios, about 200 migrants, mainly from Pakistan and Bangladesh, were ferried back across the Aegean Sea, retracing the perilous journey they took on rickety boats in their desperation to reach Europe.
European Union officials are hoping the deal with Ankara will discourage migrants from making a trek that has claimed hundreds of lives and curb a human influx that has badly strained the 28-nation bloc.