Refugees and migrants abort their effort to travel from the Turkish coast to the Greek island of Chios on a dinghy near Cesme, Turkey, Sunday. — AP
Refugees and migrants abort their effort to travel from the Turkish coast to the Greek island of Chios on a dinghy near Cesme, Turkey, Sunday. — AP
At least 13 migrants, six of them children, drowned as two boats making the hazardous crossing from Turkey capsized in the Aegean Sea off Greece on Sunday, the Coast Guard said. The first tragedy occurred off the island of Samos when a boat overturned just 20 metres from shore.
Ten bodies, including six children, four of them babies, were found in the vessel’s cabin while that of a girl was washed up on the island, where dozens of refugees have perished trying to reach Europe in recent days. Two others were still missing with Coast Guards saying 15 were plucked from the water.
A boat from the European border agency Front-ex also recovered two bodies near the island of Farmakonnisi, near Samos. Frontex also rescued three others, who said their boat was carrying 15 people when it sank in Turkish waters.
Greek authorities and the Turkish Coast Guard “continue to search the zone to find the migrants who disappeared in the sinking, which probably took place off the Turkish coast,” the Greek Coast Guard’s press office said.
In another incident, some 130 migrants, most believed to be from Syria, were discovered in a refrigerated truck on the Bulgarian border with Turkey, Bulgaria’s interior ministry said, adding that the lorry driver had been arrested.
Meanwhile, Germany’s ruling coalition failed at crunch talks on Sunday to resolve major differences over the country’s refug-ees policy as it braces for the biggest influx since World War II.
Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman said after two rounds of weekend negotiations among party leaders that meetings would continue this week. “The three leaders of the coalition parties held constructive talks on all aspects of the refugee situation and will gather again on Thursday,” he said.
