Turkish coastguard rescues migrants

MUĞLA- Anadolu Agency

Turkey’s coastguard rescued more than a dozen irregular migrants on Sept. 27 who were illegally attempting to cross into Europe through the Aegean Sea.

The local coastguard said a rubber boat carrying 15 irregular migrants, including two infants, as well as an alleged human smuggler sank off the coast of southwestern Muğla province.

Four security boats arrived at the scene and rescued them before they went under the waves.

The infants were taken to a hospital due to hypothermia.

Turkey has been a key transit point for irregular migrants aiming to cross into Europe to start new lives, especially those fleeing war and persecution.

The illegal migration trend gained momentum with the unrest in the Middle East, especially since the beginning of the Syrian civil war in 2011.

Some 268,000 irregular migrants were held in Turkey in 2018, according to the Interior Ministry.

Seven die after migrant boat capsizes off Greece

Seven people including a baby and a four-year-old child drowned on Sept. 27 when a dinghy carrying 18 migrants capsized, in the eastern Aegean Sea, near the Island of Oinousses.

Four other people are missing in the incident.

So far 12 people have been rescued. They included four children, five men and three women.

A large search and rescue operation has been launched, while more vessels were heading to the same area to assist in the efforts, the Greece-based state news agency ANA-MPA reported.

Authorities have not provided details of the nationalities of the victims.

Several coast guard vessels and an aircraft operated by the European border agency Frontex and a Hellenic Air Force helicopter were also present in the area, searching for missing people.