Refugees and migrants jump off a boat on upon their arrival on the Greek
island of Lesbos after crossing the Aegean Sea November last year.
PHOTO | AFP
AYVACIK, TURKEY, Saturday
At
least 33 migrants, including two babies, drowned when their boat sank
in the Aegean Sea while trying to cross from Turkey to Greece.
Several
others were still missing after the latest tragedy in another deadly
week for migrants fleeing war and misery across the Mediterranean to
Europe, during which dozens have drowned.
The
migrants, who included Syrian and Afghan refugees, set sail from the
shores of Canakkale province in an apparent bid to reach the nearby
Greek island of Lesbos when their boat ran into trouble.
An AFP
photographer saw the body of a baby, still fully clothed, among those
found washed up on a pebble beach near the town of Ayvacik, and said
another baby was found dead in the water.
The photographer counted a total of 33 victims, several of them children.
Earlier a coastguard official confirmed a death toll of at least 10 but after that the photographer counted more bodies.
“We are sad. Several friends are still missing,” a woman who was among the survivors said, weeping.
Most of those found alive were women and children.
The
capsized boat was visible around 50 metres from the shore, where divers
from the coastguard were still searching for the missing. Some
residents were also helping in the rescue mission.
Some
of the bodies were put in bags and taken to a morgue. Life jackets and
other refugees’ belongings were dotted around the beach.
The
deaths come two days after 25 migrants, including 10 children, died off
the Greek island of Samos, continuing a grisly trend that accelerated
last year when nearly 4,000 people died trying to reach Europe by sea,
according to the International Organisation for Migration.
Turkey, hosting 2.5 million Syrian refugees, has become the main launchpad for migrants to Europe.
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