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12 Killed After Migrant Boat Sinks Off Turkey

Twelve people died after a boat carrying migrants sank off southwestern Turkey on Monday, the coastguard said. Thirty-one migrants were rescued after the boat went … Continue reading 12 Killed After Migrant Boat Sinks Off Turkey


This handout picture released and taken on June 17, 2019 by the Turkish coastguard shows illegal migrants being rescued after their boat sank in the Aegean sea, off the coast of southwestern Turkey. Turkish coastguard said eight people died and 31 others had been rescued after the boat sank off the coast of Bodrum district in Mugla province. It was not immediately known which country or countries the migrants were from. The incident took place a few kilometres (miles) from the Greek island of Kos. handout / Turkish coast guard / AFP
This handout picture released and taken on June 17, 2019 by the Turkish coastguard shows illegal migrants being rescued after their boat sank in the Aegean sea, off the coast of southwestern Turkey. AFP

Twelve people died after a boat carrying migrants sank off southwestern Turkey on Monday, the coastguard said.

Thirty-one migrants were rescued after the boat went down off the coast of Bodrum district in Mugla province, the coastguard added, with search and rescue efforts continuing.

The nationality of the migrants was not immediately known.

The incident took place a few kilometres (miles) from the Greek island of Kos.

Home to three million Syrian refugees and up to 300,000 Iraqis who have fled conflict, Turkey is a transit country for migrants trying to reach Europe.

Numbers have dropped since hitting a peak in 2015 when over a million people arrived in Greece fromTurkey, mostly via boats, during the worst refugee crisis since the Second World War.

But a March 2016 deal between Ankara and the European Union helped staunch the flow.

Arrivals on the Greek islands were 875,000 in 2015, dropping to under 40,000 per year in 2017 and 2018, according to EU border force Frontex.

Between January and June this year, 555 migrants died attempting to cross the Mediterranean, according to the International Organization for Migration.

The figure was 924 last year with a peak of 2,911 deaths recorded in 2016.

AFP