Ankara: At least 20 people, including infants and children, when a rubber boat carrying migrants sank off Turkey's northwest province of Canakkale, according to the state-run Anadolu news agency on Friday. Canakkale Governor Ilhami Aktas said four migrants were rescued and admitted to a hospital early on Friday, while search and rescue operations continued.
Authorities are conducting a search operation involving ten coastguard boats, two helicopters, marine police, Turkey's Disaster Management Authority (AFAD) and the National Medical Rescue Team (UMKE), Aktas said. The official further informed that four of the deceased were infants and children.
It was not clear how many people were on the boat when it sank and the coast guard was continuing to search the area, he said. Turkish coast guard personnel rescued two migrants from the sea off the town of Eceabat in Canakkale province, while two others were able to reach the shore by themselves.
Although their numbers have declined in recent years, migrants mostly from the Middle East and Africa often leave Turkey to try to reach Greece in search of a better life in European countries. Some migrants leaving Turkiye also attempt to sail to Italy.
The Turkish coast guard said it caught at least 93 migrants attempting to leave the coast on boats this week. Thousands of migrants have made their way illegally into Greece from Turkey, using rickety rafts to cross the Aegean, the narrow waterway between the two countries, according to Voice of America.
United Nations data in September shows sea arrivals have already more than doubled the roughly 12,000 migrants who were caught trying to illegally enter Greece last year. Many of the illegal migrants are spotted and rounded up by authorities. The wave of illegal migration has been a thorn in Turkey-Greece relations.
(with inputs from agencies)
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