200 Syrian migrants saved from inside an abandoned truck in Turkey’s west

İZMİR – Doğan News Agency

DHA photo

Some 200 migrants of Syrian origin, who had been attempting to reach the European Union, have been saved from within a truck that was abandoned by its driver in a parking lot in Turkey’s Aegean province of İzmir. 

Police forces saved a total of 200 Syrian migrants from a closed truck after residents filed a notice that sounds were coming from a truck that was parked in a parking lot at the İnönü neighborhood in İzmir at around 3:00 a.m. on Oct. 13. 

The Syrian migrants were inside the trailer of the truck that was closed with hard canvas when police came and rescued them. 

The truck, which had been abandoned, was left running, though no trace of the driver was found. 

Turkey continues to combat migrants from attempting to illegally cross the Aegean Sea for a Greek island starting from the western coasts of Turkey.

The Turkish Coast Guard rescued a total of 1,361 migrants in three days in the Aegean Sea, the İzmir Governor’s Office said in a written statement on Oct. 12. 

From Oct. 9 to Oct. 12, Coast Guard forces rescued 1,361 migrants from the Aegean Sea and caught one human smuggler, the statement read. 

The migrants, who were mostly of Syrian origin and included many babies and children, were saved in various boats and dinghies while they were attempting to reach a Greek island, thus the EU, from the coasts of Turkey’s Çanakkale, İzmir, Aydın, Muğla and Balıkesir provinces. 

As part of the rescue efforts, 11 migrants of Pakistani origin were saved from a capsized boat off the coast of Turkey’s resort town of Bodrum with the efforts of the Bodrum Sea Protection Association. 

The migrants survived the incident with their life vests until citizens called the association, which came to the scene and rescued the migrants from the sea. 

The migrants were reported to have paid $6,000 each for the illegal trip aimed at reaching the EU.