Eighteen migrants on board an inflatable boat drowned today in the Aegean Sea off Bodrum (Halicarnassus), southwestern Turkey, the Turkish coast guard said.
“Following search and rescue operations, 21 irregular migrants were rescued and the bodies of 18 others were recovered,” the Turkish coast guard said in a statement.
The coast guard noted that it spotted the group of migrants at around 06:00 (local and Greek time) and added that “the inflatable boat refused to stop and continued its course at high speed” before taking on water and sinking.
According to the International Organization for Migration, at least 831 migrants have died or gone missing across the Mediterranean since the beginning of the year.
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