Seven people, including a baby and three children, died after their wooden boat and a coast guard vessel collided during a migrant rescue operation off the island of Lesbos, the Greek coast guard said.

The boat, which the coast guard said was old, sank after the crash and 31 persons were rescued. A man, two women, three children and a baby had drowned, the coast guard said but did not provide further details on the incident or the nationality of the victims.

Yesterday, a migrant woman and two children drowned when a boat carrying about two dozen people capsized off Lesbos, the coastguard said. 

European leaders are holding talks in Brussels today over how to cope with the continent's worst migration crisis since World War Two.