Nine migrants found dead off Turkey after boat sinks

 Nine migrants died and another 25 were rescued on Thursday after their boat started sinking off the western coast of Turkey, 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.

Frontex (R) and Greek coast guard (L) vessels take part in a search and rescue operation. AFP

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.

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

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

Shipwrecks are very common on the short but perilous route between the Turkish coast and the nearby Greek islands of Samos, Rhodes and Lesbos that serve as entry points to the European Union.