ISTANBUL, Jan 12, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – Eleven migrants died on Saturday,
including eight children, when their vessel sank in the Aegean Sea off the
coast of Turkey, state news agency Anadolu reported.
The boat sank off Cesme, a popular tourist resort in western Turkey
opposite the Greek island of Chios, Anadolu said, adding that eight others
were rescued.
The nationality of the victims was not yet known.
The sinking comes just hours after another boat sank in the Aegean near to
the Greek island of Paxi leaving at least 12 dead.
Turkey has taken in around four million migrants and refugees, the
majority of them Syrians, and is an important transit country for those
fleeing conflicts and seeking to reach Europe largely via Greece.
An agreement reached in March 2016 between Ankara and the European Union
succeeded in considerably reducing the number of people arriving on the five
islands closest to Turkey.