İzmir shops sell life vests for refugees trying to reach Greece

İZMİR – Doğan News Agency

Some 5,789 migrants were captured in 2014 by Turkish coast guards in the Aegean Sea.

Several shops in Basmane, an İzmir neighborhood where illegal refugees from Iraq, Somalia and Syria reside, have included life vests and similar equipment into their inventory, as they attempt to reach Greece.

Locals say the people buying the life vests or similar equipment are refugees who mainly live in Basmane and aim to reach Europe through Greece.

Some 5,789 migrants were captured in 2014 by Turkish coast guards in the Aegean Sea, as İzmir has become a hub for migrants wanting to illegally cross into Greece, local officials say, adding they recently detained 38 people who were caught smuggling refugees to the Greek islands.

A boat carrying 17 migrants from Eritrea and Afghanistan, which was aiming to take refugees to Europe, sank off the coast of Ayvalık in the Aegean Sea on July 18, leaving four people dead, marking the latest fatal case in boats that have sunk off the Turkish coast.