Greece deported a second batch of more than a hundred migrants to Turkey on Friday and Germany announced a sharp drop in asylum claims, after the European Union toughened efforts to end its worst migration crisis since World War II.

A police source on the Greek island of Lesbos said 45 Pakistani men had been put on a Turkish ferry, despite efforts by activists to stop the second expulsion operation under an EU-Turkey deal that has been slammed by rights groups.

A small group of activists who jumped into the water and clung onto the ferry's anchor were pried off by coast guard officers and briefly detained.