At Least 21 Refugees Drown After Boats Capsize Off Turkey

At least 21 people have drowned off Turkey in two separate incidents in which their boats overturned in rough waters as they tried to reach the Greek island of Lesbos.

Nine bodies washed up on a beach in the resort town of Ayvalık early on Tuesday, prompting authorities to dispatch coastguard boats and gendarmerie officials to search sea and land for possible survivors. By late morning, the death toll reached 14, the coastguard said, adding that seven others were either rescued or found alive.

Hours later, the Dogan news agency reported that seven other bodies had washed up on shore at Dikili, a resort about 30 miles south of Ayvalık.

About 850,000 migrants and refugees crossed into Greece last year, paying smuggling gangs to ferry them over from Turkey in frail boats. Hundreds have lost their lives during the crossings.

The International Organisation for Migration said an estimated 3,770 people died crossing the Mediterranean last year, making 2015 the deadliest year on record for migrants and refugees trying to reach Europe.

Namik Kemal Nazli, the local administrator for Ayvalık, told the Anadolu agency that the victims of the first incident were believed to be from Iraq, Algeria and Syria. There was no information on the nationalities of those drowned in the second incident.

Nazli said the search continued and that the death toll could rise further.

 

A body in a lifejacket, was pulled from the sea on to the beach at Ayvalık by a fisherman and a military police official. Other bodies, also in lifejackets, were seen lying nearby