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13 migrants killed as two boats capsize off Aegean coast
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13 migrants killed as two boats capsize off Aegean coast
A total of 13 migrants, including seven children, were killed early on
Dec. 9 after two separate boats capsized off Turkey’s Aegean coast. The
incidents come amid a new spate of deaths in the sea dividing Turkey and
Greece, as the wave of migrants trying to reach Europe continues into
the winter.
A wooden boat, thought to have set sail from the Didim district of Aydın
province, capsized off the Greek island of Farmakonisi at around 4 a.m,
Doğan News Agency reported. Twelve of the 50 migrants, including six
children and two women, were later found dead.
The Greek coast guard rescued 26 migrants from the capsized boat, while
13 others are still missing.
A Greek army helicopter was pressed into service with a vessel from the
European Union’s border agency Frontex to aid the search, according to
Agence France-Presse.
The dead also included two women and four men.
Witnesses said the boat had sunk despite a calm sea and light winds.
Meanwhile, a six-month-old migrant baby was found dead off the Aegean
coast after another migrant boat bound for Farmakonisi capsized on Dec.
8 at around 10 p.m. The Turkish coast guard reportedly rescued 18
migrants, including six children, after that capsizing.
Also on Dec. 8, at least six children died when a boat carrying Afghan
migrants sank in Aegean Sea en route to Greece, while another vessel
sank elsewhere Aegean, killing another child.
The Turkish coast guard recovered the bodies of the children, including
a baby, and were still looking for two other migrants reported missing,
state-run Anadolu Agency reported.
The dead body of a 5-year-old girl washed up on a beach in the Aegean
province of İzmir, while six other refugees were also found dead after
an inflatable boat capsized off İzmir’s Çeşme district.
The body of 5-year-old girl Sajida Ali washed up on the Pırlanta Beach
in Çeşme on Dec. 7. Ali’s body was taken to the İzmir Forensic Institute
for medical examination.
Her death comes few months after images of the lifeless body of Syrian
toddler Alan Kurdi sent shockwaves throughout the world after washing
ashore in the Turkish resort town of Bodrum in early September.
In yet another incident, six Afghan migrants drowned in the Aegean Sea
after an inflatable migrant boat capsized off Çeşme early on Dec. 8. The
Turkish coast guard rescued eight other migrants, all wearing life
jackets, while the bodies of the six were taken to the İzmir Forensic
Institute, Doğan News Agency reported.
Geographically located between war-torn Syria and Iraq in the southeast
and the EU member states of Bulgaria and Greece in the northwest, Turkey
has become a transition point for foreign migrants looking to illegally
cross into the EU in an endeavor to flee the violence in Iraq and Syria,
well as gain a higher standard of living.
The wave of migration across the Aegean Sea has often resulted in
injuries and even deaths due to either the capsizing of migrant-carrying
boats or the abuse of refugees by human traffickers.
The number of migrants saved after making failed attempts to cross via
the sea from Turkey to Europe has increased by over 500 percent in 2015
compared to last year.
In 2014, the number of migrants rescued by Turkey’s Coast Guard and
local institutions was 14,961, in 574 separate incidents, according to
Prime Ministry figures.
So far this year, the number is 79,489 migrants in 2,133 incidents. In
addition, more than 200 smuggling gangs have been targeted in security
operations launched by the authorities over the last two year
December/09/2015
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