The grave of an Iraqi, who drowned at sea during an attempt to cross the Aegean Sea from the Turkish...
The grave of a young Iraqi, who drowned on August 27 at sea during an attempt to cross a part of the Aegean Sea from the Turkish coast, was exhumed on October 7 after his family traced him through DNA, at the Saint Panteleimon cemetery of Mytilene on the Greek island of Lesbos, October 7, 2015. Buried beneath low mounds of earth, facing Mecca, lay Afghan, Iraqi and Syrian refugees who drowned this summer in the Aegean Sea trying to reach Europe in flimsy inflatable boats. Now there is no room left in the narrow plot of land in the pauper's section of St. Panteleimon cemetery, close to where the colonnaded tombs of wealthy Greeks are built in the classical Greek style, and flowers adorn lavish marble graves. No one can say where the next bodies will be buried. Nearly half a million people, mostly Syrians, Afghans and Iraqis fleeing war and persecution, have made the dangerous journey to Europe this year. Almost 3,000 have died, the U.N. refugee agency estimates. To match story EUROPE-MIGRANTS/GREECE-DEAD Picture taken October 7, 2015. REUTERS/Dimitris Michalakis TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY