Seven more migrants found dead on Turkey’s western coast

İZMİR – Anadolu Agency

DHA photo

Seven migrants were found dead after washing up on the shore of the western Turkish province of İzmir late on Jan. 13.

Local people found six bodies in the Seferihisar district before calling the Turkish gendarmerie. Local security forces at the scene confirmed that the six people had drowned.        

Meanwhile, one other person was found dead in İzmir’s Menderes district. The local gendarmerie forces have launched an investigation.        

Turkey’s five Aegean provinces – Çanakkale, Balıkesir, İzmir, Muğla and Aydın – are prime spots for refugees leaving for the EU, with several Greek islands lying within sight of the Turkish coast. 

Over the past year, hundreds of thousands of people have made the short but perilous journey across the Aegean in a bid to reach northern and western Europe in search of a better life.        

An estimated 805 died at sea in the Aegean in 2015, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). According to the IOM, more than 847,000 arrived in Greece by sea over last year and a total of more than a million refugees arrived in Europe by sea. 

Current winter weather conditions have made the route even more dangerous.