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.

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: Objects left on the beach by migrants on Lesbos

In this Monday, Oct. 5, 2015 photo, a children's toy is portrayed on a beach next to the town of Molyvos, on the northeastern Greek island of Lesbos. The migrants arrive by the hundreds on the beaches of the Greek island of Lesbos. And in their eagerness to move on, they leave behind belongings they carried with them.   

AP PHOTOS: Haunting images of people fleeing their homelands

In this Sept. 3, 2015 file photo, a woman rescued with other migrants off the Libyan coast peers through a gate on the Norwegian ship Siem Pilot to get her first sight of the island of Sardinia as they sail in the Mediterranean sea towards the Italian port of Cagliari.