Refugees arrive on a rubber boat on the Greek island of Lesbos, after crossing the Aegean Sea from Turkey, October 15, 2015. Photo: AFP
Nine people died after a boat carrying illegal migrants capsized off Turkey’s western coast, the Turkish coastguard said on Wednesday, while search efforts continued to find 25 other people on board.
The discovery came after an Iraqi woman in wet clothes and wearing a life jacket sought help from the coastguard in Karaburun district in Izmir province.
She told the coastguard that the boat carrying her and 34 others began to sank shortly after beginning its journey and she managed to arrive on solid ground.
After launching a rescue operation, the coastguard found the bodies of four migrants, including two ashore and two in the water.
The other migrants’ nationalities were not given but Turkey hosts over three million Syrian refugees and up to 300,000 Iraqis.
The boat was thought to be on its way to Greece since Turkey is one of the transit countries used by those fleeing war and poverty to try and reach Europe.
The flow of refugees into Europe has slowed since the influx hit a peak in 2015 when over a million people landed in Greece from Turkey, mainly via boats.
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