24 Syrians found in two-room basement in Edirne

EDİRNE - Doğan News Agency

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Some 24 Syrian migrants including children and women have been found by police in a two-room slum in Turkey’s northwestern province of Edirne bordering Bulgaria and Greece, living in harsh conditions in a basement flat.

Syrian migrants bidding to cross to Europe have been camping and waiting for 10 days in Edirne, but have been told by the authorities to leave the city.

Inhumane life conditions, ruined houses

As part of operations by the Edirne Police Department, security teams have raided a number of locations to find and capture Syrian migrants trying to cross into Europe through Turkey’s western border gates.

After being found, the migrants in the two-room basement were put in buses, along with their belongings, in order to be sent back to the provinces across Turkey from which they had come.

Meanwhile, five people who were detained on Sept. 28 over their alleged role in a boat accident that claimed the lives of 17 Syrian migrants, were arrested by a local court in Bodrum. 

The five people, identified only by the initials S.T., M.F.Ç., M.B., E.B. and S.N, were arrested on charges of “migrant smuggling” and “causing death by conscious negligence.” 

Some 17 migrants, including five children, were killed in a capsized boat in the Aegean Sea on Sept. 27 as it headed for Kos.