Desperate Syrian family risk the lives of their eight-month-old twins

The babies arrived on Eftalou beach near to the port of Mytilene on the Greek island of Lesbos today after crossing the Aegean Sea from Turkey after fleeing war-torn Syria.

One of the infants was pictured lying asleep while wrapped up inside a large bag with only a dummy for comfort.

While the other baby appeared wide awake and smiled sweetly after being wrapped in a space blanket to retain body heat.

The children and their parents were among the hundreds of people who have made the journey across the Aegean Sea in recent days in makeshift vessels and rubber dinghies.

However, they were among the lucky survivors after a dinghy carrying at least 46 migrants to Lesbos from Turkey capsized after being inundated by migrants from Syria, Afghanistan and elsewhere in the Middle East and South Asia at the weekend.

A total of 13 migrants died in the Turkish waters in recent days trying to reach Lesbos, with six of those killed believed to have been children, with another 20 having to be rescued.

Elsewhere a girl believed to be just five-years-old died on Saturday and 13 other migrants were feared lost overboard after their boat sank in choppy seas off the Greek island.

A survivor whose name was given as Haseen told Greek state news agency ANA: 'It was dark, we saw the ship bearing down on us. We tried to signal with flashlights and mobile phones but they did not see us.

'We lost the children. We could not see them in the dark.'

Of the record 430,000 refugees and migrants who have made the journey across the Mediterranean to Europe so far this year, 309,000 have arrived via Greece, according to the International Organization for Migration.

But near-bankrupt Greece is ill-equipped to deal with the situation. Those of its islands which have borne the brunt of the arrivals have been easily swamped by the numbers and Athens has been forced to run a relay of three ships to the mainland from Lesbos.

Meanwhile Europe's migrant crisis took centre-stage at the UN human rights council today, as European states said the need to end the conflict in Syria was at an all-time high.

After formally receiving the latest report from UN investigators on widespread rights abuses committed by all sides during the four-year war, European delegations stressed that ending conflict in Syria was the only way to contain the flow of people seeking refuge on the continent.

(dailymail.co.uk)