At least 14 dead as migrant boat sinks off Bodrum
MUĞLA
At least 14 migrants died when their inflatable dinghy capsized in the Aegean Sea off the Turkish resort of Bodrum, the governor's office said on Oct. 24, raising an earlier toll of dead from seven.
"The lifeless bodies of 14 irregular migrants were recovered," Muğla Governor’s Office said on X.
The Coast Guard was alerted to the emergency in the early hours of Oct. 24 morning.
The teams found two survivors, one of whom said the boat had been "carrying 18 people" when it started letting on water, sinking just 10 minutes later. One survivor managed to swim to Çelebi Island.
One of the survivors was an Afghan national, the office said, without saying where the others were from.
It said four Coast Guard boats backed by a helicopter and a specialist diving team were looking for the two remaining migrants who were unaccounted for, it said.
Türkiye has been a key transit point for irregular migrants who want to cross into Europe to start new lives, especially since the beginning of the Syrian civil war in 2011.
Migrant boats are often lost on the short but perilous route between the Turkish coast and the nearby Greek islands of Samos, Rhodes and Lesbos that serve as entry points to the European Union.
Bodrum lies close to the Greek island of Kos.
In some cases, neighboring Greece is accused of pushing back migrants in a controversial practice. In the Aegean Sea, Greek coast guard boats often drive out to avert migrant boats approaching Greek islands.
According to the Missing Migrants Project run by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), nearly 1,400 migrants have died trying to reach Europe via the Mediterranean Sea this year.
Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya this week said that nearly 169 migrant smugglers as well as 783 irregular migrants have been caught during inspections across 81 provinces.
