DHAKA: The number of migrants who have arrived in Greece this year has topped half a million.

The United Nations said, reports the BBC.

The rate of people arriving has risen to 8,000 a day, the UN’s High Commissioner for Refugees said, with many hoping to beat winter weather.

Most migrants then head north from Greece, but bottlenecks are forming in some Balkan states.

Slovenia has deployed its army to its border after being overwhelmed by numbers entering from Croatia.

The number of migrants reaching Europe has reached record levels in 2015:

● The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) says more than 650,000 arrived so far this year, compared with 280,000 last year

● The UNHCR says the number of migrants arriving by sea this month is already more than five times higher than the total for October last year

● At least 3,135 have died making the journey - compared with 3,279 throughout 2014

Most travel from Turkey to Greece, and while summer months usually see the most arrivals, the number of people reaching Greece increased in October.

BDST: 1255 HRS, OCT 21, 2015
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