Boat carrying 120 migrants sinks in Türkiye

About 40 people drowned and 75 were rescued after a boat carrying migrants to Greece sank off the west coast of Türkiye today.

Turkish coast guard arrives at a port with the bodies of migrants who died on their way to Greece on January 21. Photo: AP

Reuters reports coast guardTürkiye is continuing search and rescue efforts for a 17-meter-long boat carrying at least 120 people that sank off the coast of Ayvacik, a town opposite the Greek island of Lesvos.

At least five of the dead were children. Those rescued were hospitalized with hypothermia. They were migrants from Syria, Afghanistan and Myanmar.

"I fear the death toll will rise as divers continue their search," said Mehmet Unal Sahin, the mayor of Ayvacik. "Locals woke up to the screams of the migrants and we have been conducting rescue operations since dawn. We have an 80km long coastline facing Lesvos so it is difficult to control."

More than one million migrants and refugees arrived in Europe last year and about 3,600 died or went missing.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel is under pressurestem the flow of migrants. Speaking at a meeting today, she stressed that they would only be allowed to stay for a limited period of time.

"We need to tell people that this is only a temporary residence status and we expect that once peace is restored in Syria, once IS has been defeated in Iraq, you will have to return to your countries," Merkel said.

Available2.5 million peoplefled the five-year war in Syria tolive in TürkiyeAbout 500,000 people risked their lives crossing the sea from this country to Greece last year.

According to VNE