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17 dead after migrant boat sinks

September 27, 2015

At least 17 Syrians heading for Greece have drowned in the Aegean Sea after departing from Turkey, according to reports. Around 20 Syrians were rescued by Turkish authorities after the wooden boat sunk.

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Griechenland Flüchtlinge Kos
Image: Reuters/A. Konstantinidis

Turkish state-run press agency Anadolu reported on Sunday that 17 Syrians - including five children - drowned after their boat sank shortly after departing Turkey's Bodrum peninsula.

At least 20 Syrians were rescued by the Turkish coast guard after the wooden boat carrying 37 asylum seekers capsized.

At a distance of four kilometer (2.5 miles), the route between the Bodrum peninsula and Greece's Kos has become a popular passageway for asylum seekers and migrants fleeing war-torn countries in the Middle East and Africa.

Infografik Flüchtlinge Balkanroute September mit Kroatien 2015 Englisch

Amir Cicek, the governor of the Mugla province, said authorities launched an investigation to determine the cause of the incident.

According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), more than 350,000 migrants - many of them Syrian - have landed in Greece this year via Turkey.

Crossing the Mediterranean

Meanwhile, the Italian coastguard reported that around 500 migrants were rescued at sea while attempting to cross the Mediterranean.

"Saturday was quiet on the whole but now there is further movement," a spokesperson told AFP news agency.

"We have had several interventions - one by a ship belonging to MSF [Doctors Without Borders], two coastguard units as well as an Italian naval ship and a ship belonging to EU Navfor Med."

More than 2,800 of the 500,000 migrants crossing the Mediterranean Sea have died attempting the journey.

ls/sms (AFP, AP, Reuters, dpa)