Boat sinking off Didim, Turkey claims 25 lives

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Reuters Report on Rudaw

Fresh migrant boat sinks off Turkey, killing 18

At least 18 migrants whose nationalities were not immediately known died after their boat capsized in Turkish waters of the Aegean, en route to Greece.

The Turkish coastguard managed to rescue 15 migrants from the boat, off the coastal town of Didim in southwestern Turkey, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported.

The coastguard, backed by three boats and a helicopter, has been searching waters for survivors or more bodies.

In the last incident of its kind, a boat carrying 100 migrants, many reportedly come from the Kurdistan Region and Syrian Kurdistan, went missing on Januray 31 in the Aegean Sea, according to a Rudaw correspondent in Turkey.

In an official visit to Ankara this week, EU President Donald Tusk said the number of migrants crossing the Aegean Sea from Turkey to EU territory remained "far too high."

Nearly 135,000 migrants or refugees have crossed into Greece since the beginning of 2016, according to the IOM, which said the vast majority landed on Greek islands, while some managed to reach Italian waters.

http://rudaw.net/NewsDetails.aspx?pageid=199508

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BBC News

Migrant crisis: Boat sinking off Didim, Turkey claims 25 lives

A boat carrying migrants from Turkey to Greece has sunk with the loss of 25 lives, Turkey's coast guard says.

Fifteen people were rescued after the boat capsized near the Turkish resort of Didim.

Reports suggest Macedonia has set new curbs on Syrian migrants trying to cross the land border from Greece.

Nato is expanding its mission in the Aegean to send patrols to Turkish and Greek territorial waters in the battle to defeat people smugglers.

Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said in a statement: "The purpose of Nato's deployment is not to stop or push back migrant boats, but to help our allies Greece and Turkey, as well as the European Union, in their efforts to tackle human trafficking and the criminal networks that are fuelling this crisis."

An emergency summit will take place between the EU and Turkey on Monday to try to seek a common approach to handling the flow of arrivals

A Turkish search and rescue operation was launched after the latest sinking in the Aegean Sea.

At least three children are believed to be among those who died.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) says at least 321 migrants drowned trying to get to Greece between 1 January and 3 March.

More than 2,000 migrants, most of whom the IOM says are from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, are arriving into Greece from Turkey every day hoping to travel further north through Europe.

But some EU countries re-imposed internal border controls and Macedonia sharply reduced the numbers allowed to cross, leading to a build-up on the Greek side of the border.

On Sunday, reports from the border said Macedonia had stopped allowing entry to anyone from areas in Iraq and Syria it did not consider to be active conflict zones.

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