Two migrants killed, 16 missing in Aegean Sea for two days

BALIKESİR / AYDIN

DHA Photo

Two migrants were killed and 16 others went missing in two separate accidents in the Aegean Sea when boats heading to Greece from Turkey capsized. 

On Oct. 22, one child and an unidentified person were killed in a capsized boat off the resort town of Ayvalık located in the northwestern province of Baklıkesir. One migrant on the boat went missing while 11 others on the boat were rescued alive by Turkish Coast Guards. The reason of the accident was unknown but Syrian migrants sailed to Greece’s Lesbos Island despite heavy rain.

On Oct. 21, fishermen rescued 37 Syrian migrants trying to reach Lesbos, when their boat capsized off Ayvalık.      

The migrants were later taken on board a Turkish Coast Guard vessel to be handed over to the police.
Migrants said they had paid 1,100 euros each to reach the Greek island. 

In a separate incident on Sept. 21, a boat carrying migrants sank in the Aegean Sea off the resort town of Kuşadası in the province of Aydın. Some 15 migrants in the boat were rescued while 15 others were missing as of Oct. 22. Turkish coast guards continued their work to find the missing migrants. 

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) said Oct. 20 the weekend arrivals in Greece exceeded peak summer day totals.

“On Oct. 16, over 8,900 migrants crossed into Greece; on Oct. 17, arrivals exceeded 9,100; and on Oct. 18, arrivals approached 9,200,” the IOM said.

The IOM said a total of 507,000 people have crossed to Greece in 2015 (until Oct. 20) and at least 291 have drowned.

Almost all refugees arriving in Greece take the perilous journey through the Balkan states to reach the EU countries of Germany, France and Scandinavia.