Three migrants die as speedboat capsizes in the Aegean

ÇANAKKALE – Doğan News Agency

AA photo

Three migrants, including a child, have died in the latest tragedy to strike the Aegean Sea, as a boat carrying Afghan migrants capsized off the Turkish coast. 

A total of 16 migrants set off across the Aegean in a speedboat procured by human smugglers from the Arıklıaltı neighborhood of Çanakkale’s Ayvacık district in Turkey’s northwest. 

Reports indicated the boat was overloaded and capsized some 200 meters off the coast. 

Two women and a five-year-old child were killed in the accident and their bodies were retrieved by the Turkish Coast Guard. 

The 13 other migrants survived the incident, as five migrants managed to swim to the shore and eight others were rescued by the Turkish Coast Guard. 

All 13 migrants received treatment at an ambulance that was dispatched to the port in the Küçükkuyu district.

However, a one-year-old child was taken to Ayvacık State Hospital in critical condition.