Publish date22 Oct 2018 - 13:55
Story Code : 370821

Refugee boat sinks off Turkey, 2 killed

Two people have lost their lives as boat carrying refugees sank 50 meters off Turkish coast on Monday, Turkish guard said.
Refugee boat sinks off Turkey, 2 killed
Seventeen people on the boat were rescued and three made it to shore by themselves, the coast guard said. Two of those people later died at the hospital, it said.

It did not specify the refugees’ nationalities.

Search and rescue activities are continuing for possible missing passengers, the coast guard said.

Turkey became one of the main launch points for more than a million refugees taking the sea route to EU territory in 2015, many fleeing conflict and poverty in the Middle East and Africa.

The influx of refugees was drastically curtailed by a 2016 accord between Ankara and the EU, after hundreds died crossing to Greek islands a few miles off the Turkish shore.

Mediterranean arrivals to the bloc, including refugees making the longer and more perilous crossing from North Africa to Italy, totaled 172,301 in 2017, down from 362,753 in 2016 and 1,015,078 in 2015, according to United Nations data.

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