Eleven people thought to be migrants have died after their vehicle and a lorry collided head-on in northern Greece.

Both the car and the lorry burst into flames but the lorry driver managed to escape without serious injuries.

The car was heading to the city of Thessaloniki and the lorry was travelling to Kavala when the crash occurred early on Saturday.

Police said the car had previously been used for migrant smuggling.

Greece had been the frontline of the migrant arrivals, hitting a peak of more than one million from Turkey in 2015.

But the flow of irregular migrants fell dramatically after the EU and Turkey signed an agreement to send back to Turkey migrants who did not apply for asylum or whose claim was rejected.

Police said the car in question had failed to stop when officers tried to pull it over for a check earlier on Saturday.

The nationalities of the victims was not immediately known. </s> 11 killed in crash of car carrying migrants in Greece

THESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — A speeding car carrying migrants collided with a truck in northern Greece on Saturday, killing 11 people, police said.

Ten of the victims were believed to be migrants who crossed into the Greece from Turkey. The 11th person was the car's driver and a suspected migrant smuggler, police said.

Police said the car in which the migrants were packed had another vehicle's license plates and is suspected of having been used for migrant trafficking. The car hadn't stopped at a police checkpoint during its journey, but it wasn't immediately clear how close to the site of the crash that it happened.

Police said the crash occurred just after 5 a.m. (0200 GMT) near the town of Kavala. The car, which had been heading to the main northern city of Thessaloniki, collided with a truck heading in the opposite direction and burst into flames. All of the victims have been burned beyond recognition. The truck caught fire as well.

All of the people in the car were killed. The truck driver, a 39-year-old Greek man, was treated for minor injuries in a hospital in northern Greece before being discharged.

Police told The Associated Press the car was traveling at high speed and had crossed over to the eastbound lane. The truck driver tried to swerve at the last moment, but couldn't avoid the collision.

The car wasn't traveling on the highway connecting Thessaloniki to the Turkish border but on an older road, because there are more police roadblocks on the highway.

A local firefighter told the AP on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation that one of the victims was believed to have been a child and that three or four of the others were in the car's trunk.

Greek authorities have been seeing an increase in people illegally crossing the Greek-Turkish border in recent months. Many are transported to Thessaloniki, where they head to police stations to be registered and apply for asylum. </s> THESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) - A speeding car carrying migrants collided with a truck in northern Greece on Saturday, killing 11 people, police said.

Ten of the victims were believed to be migrants who crossed into the Greece from Turkey. The 11th person was the car’s driver and a suspected migrant smuggler, police said.

Police said the car in which the migrants were packed had another vehicle’s license plates and is suspected of having been used for migrant trafficking. The car hadn’t stopped at a police checkpoint during its journey, but it wasn’t immediately clear how close to the site of the crash that it happened.

Police said the crash occurred just after 5 a.m. (0200 GMT) near the town of Kavala. The car, which had been heading to the main northern city of Thessaloniki, collided with a truck heading in the opposite direction and burst into flames. All of the victims have been burned beyond recognition. The truck caught fire as well.

All of the people in the car were killed. The truck driver, a 39-year-old Greek man, was treated for minor injuries in a hospital in northern Greece before being discharged.

Police told The Associated Press the car was traveling at high speed and had crossed over to the eastbound lane. The truck driver tried to swerve at the last moment, but couldn’t avoid the collision.

The car wasn’t traveling on the highway connecting Thessaloniki to the Turkish border but on an older road, because there are more police roadblocks on the highway.

A local firefighter told the AP on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation that one of the victims was believed to have been a child and that three or four of the others were in the car’s trunk.

Greek authorities have been seeing an increase in people illegally crossing the Greek-Turkish border in recent months. Many are transported to Thessaloniki, where they head to police stations to be registered and apply for asylum. </s> A car carrying migrants has collided with a truck in northern Greece – killing 11 people, police said.

A car carrying migrants has collided with a truck in northern Greece – killing 11 people, police said.

Ten of the victims were believed to be migrants who crossed into the Greece from Turkey. The 11th person was the driver and a suspected migrant smuggler, police said.

Police said the car in which the migrants were packed had another vehicle’s number plates and is suspected of having been used for migrant trafficking.

The car had not stopped at a police checkpoint during its journey, but it was not immediately clear how close to the site of the crash that it happened.

Police said the crash occurred just after 5am local time near the town of Kavala.

The car, which had been heading to the main northern city of Thessaloniki, collided with a truck heading in the opposite direction and burst into flames.

All those in the car were killed. The truck driver, a 39-year-old Greek man, was treated for minor injuries in a hospital in northern Greece before being discharged.

Greek authorities have been seeing an increase in people illegally crossing the Greek-Turkish border in recent months.

Many are transported to Thessaloniki, where they head to police stations to be registered and apply for asylum. </s> A car carrying migrants collided with a truck in northern Greece on Saturday, killing 11 people, police said.

Ten of the victims were believed to be migrants who crossed into the Greece from Turkey. The 11th person was the driver and a suspected migrant smuggler, police said.

Police said the car in which the migrants were packed had another vehicle's license plates and is suspected of having been used for migrant trafficking. The car had not stopped at a police checkpoint during its journey, but it wasn't immediately clear how close to the site of the crash that it happened.

Police said the crash occurred just after 5 a.m. (0200 GMT) near the town of Kavala. The car, which had been heading to the main northern city of Thessaloniki, collided with a truck heading in the opposite direction and burst into flames. All of the victims have been burned beyond recognition. The truck caught fire as well.

All those in the car were killed. The truck driver, a 39-year-old Greek man, was treated for minor injuries in a hospital in northern Greece before being discharged.

Greek authorities have been seeing an increase in people illegally crossing the Greek-Turkish border in recent months. Many are transported to Thessaloniki, where they head to police stations to be registered and apply for asylum. </s> Image copyright AFP Image caption The burned-out car is retrieved near Kavala

Eleven people thought to be migrants have died after their vehicle and a lorry collided head-on in northern Greece.

Both the car and the lorry burst into flames but the lorry driver managed to escape without serious injuries.

The car was heading to the city of Thessaloniki and the lorry was travelling to Kavala when the crash occurred early on Saturday.

Police said the car had previously been used for migrant smuggling.

Greece had been the frontline of the migrant arrivals, hitting a peak of more than one million from Turkey in 2015.

But the flow of irregular migrants fell dramatically after the EU and Turkey signed an agreement to send back to Turkey migrants who did not apply for asylum or whose claim was rejected.

Police said the car in question had failed to stop when officers tried to pull it over for a check earlier on Saturday.

The nationalities of the victims were not immediately known. </s> THESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — A speeding car carrying migrants collided with a truck in northern Greece on Saturday, killing 11 people, police said. Ten of the victims were believed to be migrants who crossed into…

THESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — A speeding car carrying migrants collided with a truck in northern Greece on Saturday, killing 11 people, police said.

Ten of the victims were believed to be migrants who crossed into the Greece from Turkey. The 11th person was the car’s driver and a suspected migrant smuggler, police said.

Police said the car in which the migrants were packed had another vehicle’s license plates and is suspected of having been used for migrant trafficking. The car hadn’t stopped at a police checkpoint during its journey, but it wasn’t immediately clear how close to the site of the crash that it happened.

Police said the crash occurred just after 5 a.m. (0200 GMT) near the town of Kavala. The car, which had been heading to the main northern city of Thessaloniki, collided with a truck heading in the opposite direction and burst into flames. All of the victims have been burned beyond recognition. The truck caught fire as well.

All of the people in the car were killed. The truck driver, a 39-year-old Greek man, was treated for minor injuries in a hospital in northern Greece before being discharged.

Police told The Associated Press the car was traveling at high speed and had crossed over to the eastbound lane. The truck driver tried to swerve at the last moment, but couldn’t avoid the collision.

The car wasn’t traveling on the highway connecting Thessaloniki to the Turkish border but on an older road, because there are more police roadblocks on the highway.

A local firefighter told the AP on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation that one of the victims was believed to have been a child and that three or four of the others were in the car’s trunk.

Greek authorities have been seeing an increase in people illegally crossing the Greek-Turkish border in recent months. Many are transported to Thessaloniki, where they head to police stations to be registered and apply for asylum.

Copyright © 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed. </s> A speeding car carrying migrants collided with a truck in northern Greece on Saturday, killing 11 people, police said.

Ten of the victims were believed to be migrants who crossed into the Greece from Turkey. The 11th person was the car's driver and a suspected migrant smuggler, police said.

Police said the car in which the migrants were packed had another vehicle's license plates and is suspected of having been used for migrant trafficking. The car hadn't stopped at a police checkpoint during its journey, but it wasn't immediately clear how close to the site of the crash that it happened.

Police said the crash occurred just after 5 a.m. (0200 GMT) near the town of Kavala. The car, which had been heading to the main northern city of Thessaloniki, collided with a truck heading in the opposite direction and burst into flames. All of the victims have been burned beyond recognition. The truck caught fire as well.

All of the people in the car were killed. The truck driver, a 39-year-old Greek man, was treated for minor injuries in a hospital in northern Greece before being discharged.

Police told The Associated Press the car was traveling at high speed and had crossed over to the eastbound lane. The truck driver tried to swerve at the last moment, but couldn't avoid the collision.

The car wasn't traveling on the highway connecting Thessaloniki to the Turkish border but on an older road, because there are more police roadblocks on the highway.

A local firefighter told the AP on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation that one of the victims was believed to have been a child and that three or four of the others were in the car's trunk.

Greek authorities have been seeing an increase in people illegally crossing the Greek-Turkish border in recent months. Many are transported to Thessaloniki, where they head to police stations to be registered and apply for asylum. </s> Image copyright AFP Image caption The lorry crashed through a barrier and plunged 20m

At least 22 people, including a number of children, were killed in Turkey when a lorry carrying migrants plunged off a road, state media say.

The lorry crashed through a barrier and landed in an irrigation canal 20m (65ft) below, in the western province of Izmir.

The nationality of the victims was not immediately known.

A day earlier, 11 people thought to be migrants died when their car burst into flames after a crash in Greece.

The lorry was travelling from Aydin to Izmir when Sunday's accident happened, the Anadolu agency said.

It was reportedly taking the migrants to the coast, where they would have boarded inflatable dinghies heading to Greece's Samos island.

In addition to the dead, 13 people were taken to hospital with injuries.

The DHA agency said the 35-year-old Turkish driver had survived the crash and told police he had swerved to avoid an oncoming vehicle.

The agency said that two children and two babies were killed, along with a pregnant woman.

Prosecutors have opened an investigation and said the driver could face arrest after receiving medical treatment.

Turkey is a major transit point for migrants travelling from Syria and other Middle Eastern nations, as well as from countries further east and in Africa.

More than a million migrants crossed into Greece during the peak year of 2015.

But the flow fell dramatically after the EU and Turkey signed an agreement to send back to Turkey migrants who did not apply for asylum or whose claim was rejected.

Nevertheless, the UN says more than 24,500 migrants have made the sea journey from Turkey to Greece this year, with 118 losing their lives.

Image copyright AFP Image caption Saturday's crash in northern Greece left 11 people dead

Saturday's crash in Greece involved a car and a lorry, both of which burst into flames after a head-on collision near Kavala in the north of the country.

The lorry driver managed to escape without serious injuries.
Eleven people are killed after their vehicle and a lorry collide head-on in Thessaloniki, Greece.