A refugee woman and two children have lost their lives in an incident in which their boat turned over while en route to the Greek island of Lesbos.

According to Greece’s Ministry of Shipping, the sinking occurred on Wednesday, with the country’s coastguard saying that a helicopter of the European Union (EU) border control agency Frontex found the capsized boat.

Local divers managed to locate the bodies of the victims under the vessel.

The nationalities of the three, that included a baby, are not confirmed; it is also still unknown whether they were related.

The Greek ministry, meanwhile, added that 21 other refugees on board a boat sailing from Turkey to Lesbos were taken back to the Turkey.

Based on data released by the UN refugee agency, some 3,000 people have so far drowned this year after taking boats to undertake the dangerous journey across the Mediterranean Sea to reach Europe.

The International Organization for Migration has also said over 590,000 refugees have made their way to Europe since January. Most of the refugees come from conflict-hit countries in the Middle East, Asia and Africa, like Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan.

EU summit on refugees

The EU leaders are set to meet later on Thursday in an attempt to find a solution to the huge influx of refugees arriving in the bloc.

They are seeking to win Turkey’s approval for hosting over two million refugees with the help of the 28-member bloc.

The EU leaders reportedly hope to stem the flow of the Syrian refugees by having them accommodated inside Turkey.