Latest boat tragedy on Aegean kills at least 18

AYDIN

DHA Photo

The latest migrant boat tragedy in the Aegean Sea has killed at least 18 off Turkey’s west coast.

Some 15 other migrants, whose nationalities were not immediately available, were rescued by the Turkish Coast Guard on March 6 after a Greece-bound boat carrying dozens of migrants capsized off Didim, a district in the Aegean province of Aydın, killing at least 18.

Doğan News Agency said rescue efforts were underway by coast guards of Greece and Turkey and aerial operations. Ambulances and medical staff were reported to be ready on the coast.

Geographically located between war-torn Syria and Iraq in the southeast and the EU member states of Bulgaria and Greece in the northwest, Turkey has become a transition point for migrants looking to illegally cross into the EU, fleeing the violence in Iraq and Syria and seeking a higher standard of living.

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