Eleven people die as migrant boat sinks off Turkey’s coast

TMP – 18/04/2017

Eleven people have drowned and four are missing after a rubber dinghy carrying 22 illegal migrants sank off Turkey’s coast, close to the town of Kusadasi, last month.

Turkey’s Dogan news agency reported that five children and two women were among the deceased. Most of the migrants were Syrians, attempting to reach the Greek islands illegally. Two alleged Turkish smugglers were found among those rescued and were apprehended by coast guards.

Television footage showed bodies washed up on a beach near the town. Rescuers managed to save seven people from the vessel and the coast guard was searching for any other survivors, the news agency said. One of those rescued was a baby who remained in a “critical condition”, district Governor Muammer Aksoy was quoted as saying.

The incident occurred just a day after news emerged that more than 250 migrants might have died off the Libyan coast, when a Spanish aid organization claimed to have found five bodies floating near two capsized rubber dinghies, which would normally hold between 100 to 120 people at least.

A year on since Turkey and the European Union struck a deal to stem the flow of migrants reaching Europe via the Greek islands, it is clear many are still attempting to make the perilous voyage across the Aegean Sea.