Five migrants dead after boat collision off Ayvalık
BALIKESİR
Five people were killed when a boat carrying migrants collided with a Turkish Coast Guard vessel off the coast of the western province of Balıkesir, local officials said on Sept. 7.
A fiber-hulled boat carrying a suspected smuggler and 34 undocumented migrants struck a Coast Guard vessel off the Ayvalık district during an operation by the North Aegean Group Command, the governor’s office in the province said in a statement.
Authorities said search and rescue teams recovered the bodies of five migrants who fell into the sea. One person was taken to a hospital with serious injuries, while search teams continued looking for another migrant reported missing.
The chief public prosecutor’s office in Ayvalık has launched an investigation into the incident.
Many migrants embark on the short but perilous route between the Turkish coast and the nearby Greek islands such as Lesbos, Samos and Rhodes, which are gateways to the European Union.
