Boats carrying dozens of migrants off Turkish coast sink, killing 4

At least four people drowned when two boats carrying dozens of migrants capsized off Turkey’s Aegean coast on Tuesday, Turkish media reports said.

The Turkish Coast Guard rescued 38 people and recovered four bodies, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported.

It was not clear how many people were on the boats and the Coast Guard was continuing to search the coastal resort of Kusadasi for other possible survivors.

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The waters of the Augean Sea are seen at the border between Greece and Turkey on November 16, 2021. Two migrant boats carrying dozens of people sank off Turkey’s Aegean coast on Tuesday. The Coast Guard rescued 38 people, while four people died. (Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

The private DHA news agency reported that the rescued migrants were taken to hospitals to be treated for hyperthermia. His nationality was not immediately known.

Anadolu claimed that boats believed to be carrying migrants were pushed back into Turkish waters by Greek authorities.

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Turkey often accuses Greece of engaging in the illegal practice of pushback – summary deportations without allowing migrants to apply for asylum. Greece denies this, and instead accuses Turkish officials of directing migrant boats into Greek waters.

Thousands of people – mostly from the Middle East and Africa – try to reach the eastern Greek islands from Turkey each year, seeking a better life in the European Union.