Five drowned migrants wash ashore in Turkey’s west

ÇANAKKALE – Doğan News Agency

AA Photo

The dead bodies of five migrants, including two babies, have washed ashore in the northwestern Turkish province of Çanakkale amid ongoing failed attempts by migrants to cross into Greece.

The five, including a woman and two babies, were found dead on Nov. 28 in Çanakkale’s Ayvacık district by Ayvacık Gendarmerie Command forces upon a notification the bodies had washed up on the coast of a 50-square-kilometer area in the district.

The bodies were taken to the Ayvacık Public Hospital.

Meanwhile in the northwestern province of Edirne, 30 Syrian migrants, including children, were captured while heading to Greece in a pickup truck in Edirne’s Meriç district on Nov. 28. The driver of the pickup truck was detained on human trafficking charges.

Geographically located between war-torn Syria and Iraq in the southeast and the European Union member states of Bulgaria and Greece in the northwest, Turkey has come to be a transition point for foreign migrants looking to illegally cross into the EU in an endeavor to flee the violence in Iraq and Syria as well as have a higher standard of living.

The wave of migration across the Aegean Sea, however, has sometimes resulted in injuries and even deaths due to either the capsizing of migrant-carrying boats or abuse of migrants by human traffickers.

The number of migrants saved after making failed attempts to cross via the sea from Turkey into Europe has increased by over 500 percent in 2015 compared to last year.

In 2014, the number of migrants rescued by Turkey’s Coast Guard and local institutions was 14,961, in 574 separate incidents, according to Prime Ministry figures. 

So far this year, the number is 79,489 migrants in 2,133 incidents. In addition, more than 200 smuggling gangs have been targeted in security operations launched by the authorities over the last two years.