Refugee boat sinks off western Turkiye, killing at least 14

Coastguard behaviour hunt and rescue cognition aft vessel sank connected perilous route, 2 radical thought to beryllium missing.

At slightest 14 refugees died erstwhile their inflatable dinghy capsized successful the Aegean Sea disconnected the Turkish edifice of Bodrum, according to the provincial governor.

The bureau of Mugla governorate said connected X connected Friday that an Afghan antheral who survived the catastrophe and swam backmost to the mainland had raised the alarm soon aft 1am (22:00 GMT).

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The Afghan nationalist told the exigency services that 18 radical had acceptable retired connected the rubber boat, but that it had taken connected h2o soon afterwards and sunk, according to the governor’s office.

Search and rescue teams recovered a 2nd subsister who had managed to scope Celebi Island disconnected Bodrum.

The bureau said 4 coastguard boats backed by a chopper and a specializer diving squad were conducting a hunt and rescue operation, looking for different refugees who stay unaccounted for.

Refugee and migrant boats are often mislaid connected the abbreviated but perilous route, which kills galore travellers, betwixt the Turkish seashore and the adjacent Greek islands of Samos, Rhodes and Lesbos that service arsenic introduction points to the safer and much prosperous European Union nations for radical fleeing struggle and poverty.

Back successful April, astatine slightest 16 radical died erstwhile two boats carrying refugees sank successful the constrictive agelong of oversea betwixt Turkiye and Lesbos.

Last year, astatine slightest 22, including respective children, were killed aft their rubber dinghy capsized disconnected the Turkish land of Gokceada.

The contented of irregular migration is simply a thorn successful relations betwixt NATO members Greece and Turkiye, with the erstwhile often accusing the second of waving migrants done their associated borderline and astatine sea.

Turkiye, successful turn, has accused Athens of amerciable pushbacks of exile boats. In 2016, Ankara struck a woody with the EU to curb the influx of radical seeking refuge successful the EU successful instrumentality for fiscal assistance and different incentives.