AP PHOTOS: Thousands brave the cold to cross sea to Greece

The seas are rough and cold. The wind is bitter. The overcrowded smugglers' boats are far from seaworthy, with many unable even to make it across a few miles of water — and the bodies of those who drown as the boats sink are fished out of the churning seas day by day.

Yet tens of thousands of men, women and children fleeing violence and poverty in their homelands continue to risk their lives this winter to make the relatively short but dangerous journey from the Turkish coast to nearby Greek islands, seeking a better future in Europe.

AP PHOTOS: Top pictures in 2015 from Europe and Africa

In this Thursday, Aug. 27, 2015 photo, a child is helped cross from Serbia to Hungary through the barbed wire fence near Roszke, southern Hungary. Round the clock, thousands of refugees cross daily along the approximately 110-mile (175-kilometer) border with non-EU member Serbia to the south.  

Hungary shuts Croatian border to migrant flow

A migrant child smiles as she follows her mother down the path that leads to the Serbian-Croatian border crossing, at the village of Berkasovo, near Sid, Serbia, on Thursday, Oct.15, 2015. The migrants and refugees are struggling with the autumn rain and the cold as EU leaders are discussing in Brussels how to deal with the crisis.  

AP Photos: Portraits of refugees along Europe migrant trail

In this photo taken on Saturday, Oct. 3, 2015, Syrian refugee Mahmoud Naoura, 30, who came from Aleppo, Syria, poses for a picture while holding his daughter Huda, 5, who was injured in 2012 by a government bombing on their home which made her lose her sight, shortly after arriving on a dinghy from the Turkish coast to the northeastern Greek island of Lesbos. Naoura said “I just want to cure my daughter. Huda will see again, inshallah, and when she will open her eyes I want her to see a safe environment around.”