Refugee boat sinks off Turkish coast, 12 dead

At least 12 people have drowned after a boat carrying refugees attempting to reach the Greek island of Lesbos sank in the Aegean Sea, Turkish officials said on Saturday.

Canakkale Governor Hamza Erkal said the boat carrying more than 48 refugees – most of them reportedly from Syria and Afghanistan – sank in the Turkish waters of the Aegean Sea as it was on its way to Greece.

The security officials identified the dead bodies, which includes one baby, four children, five women and two men.

The Turkish Coast Guard rescued 25 refugees from the wooden boat, which had set off from the Turkish resort town of Ayvacik, located in the north-western Canakkale province.

The Coast Guard crews have been searching for at least 11 other missing refugees, Erkal said.

In a separate incident, a Pakistani refugee reportedly drowned Saturday after falling off a boat carrying 38 people, Turkish Coast Guard officials said.

The boat had departed from the coast of Bodrum located in the south-western province of Mugla and was heading towards the nearby Greek island of Kos.

In addition, the Turkish Coast Guard said that they had apprehended 49 Syrian refugees attempting to reach the Greek island of Lindos, via the Aegean Sea, from Datca district of the south-western Mugla province, during the team’s search-and-rescue operations on Saturday.

They were taken to the town of Datca, to the Immigration Removal Centre before being transferred to police for inquiry.

Thousands of people – mostly refugees fleeing the Syrian conflict – have been trying to reach the Greek island Lesbos in order to reach western Europe.

According to an International Organization for Migration (IOM) report, almost 3,000 refugees have died crossing the Mediterranean Sea so far this year, including 246 in the waters between Greece and Turkey.

Nearly 505,700 refugees have arrived in Europe by sea this year, most arriving in Greece, according to the IOM.