One migrant dead, two missing in capsized boat in Aegean Sea

İZMİR – Anadolu Agency

DHA File Photo

At least one person has died and two others are missing after a boat carrying refugees sank on Oct. 27 in the Aegean Sea, off the Turkish province of İzmir.

The Turkish Coast Guard on Oct. 28 said 42 people were rescued from the sea soon after the incident off the resort town of Çeşme. It also said a search and rescue operation was underway to find two missing refugees. 

Video footage released by the coast guards showed that a mother and her child were trying to survive in the sea, after which rescue helicopters arrived at the scene to rescue them. 

Most of the refugees attempting to reach the Greek island of Chios were Syrians, they added.

Meanwhile, 69 Syrians, including 18 children, were rescued from a boat that was about to sink off the Fethiye district of Muğla in the Aegean. The vessel was heading to the island of Rhodes, and the 49-year-old captain of the boat was detained after the rescue operation. 

At least 3,138 refugees, including the 291 in the Aegean Sea, have died crossing the Mediterranean Sea so far this year, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

According to the UNHCR, the total number of arrivals in 2015 so far in Europe via the Mediterranean is now over 643,000.