ISTANBUL: Nine migrants died and another 25 were rescued Thursday after their boat started sinking off the western coast of Turkiye, officials said.

The incident took place on Thursday morning off the coast of the Ayvacik district, the local governor’s office and the coast guard said.

“As a result of search and rescue efforts, nine bodies were found and 25 migrants were rescued,” the governor’s office said in a statement, adding that the search was ongoing to find one missing migrant.

Their nationalities were not immediately known.

On the same day, seven people, including three children, died and 23 others were rescued when an inflatable boat carrying migrants capsized off the Greek island of Lesbos, the Greek coast guard said.

48 people rescued; UN says nearly 2,333 died last year

The coast guard initially said four bodies had been discovered in the Aegean Sea but after a search by patrol boats, three others were found, a spokeswoman told AFP.

The boat was carrying about 30 people and capsized in mild weather a short distance from the coast of neighbouring Turkiye.

The dead adults included three women and one man, the coast guard said. The 23 survivors were from Syria and Afghanistan and were taken to a reception centre for migrants in Lesbos, they added.

A source from the Turkish coast guard told AFP that the two accidents were unrelated.

Greece’s location in the far southeast of Europe in the eastern Mediterranean Sea makes its islands a common passage for undocumented migrants from Asia and the Middle East trying to reach western Europe.

Deaths are commonplace during the perilous crossing. The UN said nearly 2,333 people were reported to have died last year.

Last month, Greek maritime police said one migrant died and 18 others were rescued after a smuggler abandoned them as they tried to cross from Turkiye.

According to the UN refugee agency, nearly 9,000 people have entered Greece since the start of the year, most of them by sea.

There were over 54,000 entries in 2024, according to the agency’s figures.

Greece’s conservative government has hardened the country’s stance on migration.

Published in Dawn, April 4th, 2025