The Turkish coast guard has recovered the bodies of five migrants whose dinghy laden with 31 passengers sank off the Turkish coast on Saturday morning, officials said.
Turkish authorities rescued 11 others from a partially submerged boat, while the Greek coastguard found five migrants safely on Farmakonisi island in the Aegean Sea, the UN refugee agency said.
The Turkish coast guard intervened after learning that a vessel was taking on water shortly before 6:30 am local time, Reuters reported. A child was among 11 rescued from the “sunk dinghy” in Turkish waters, authorities said.
Rescuers told authorities the dinghy was carrying 31 passengers, according to the outlet.
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The search for the remaining passengers continued on Sunday as rescuers battled adverse weather conditions.
The Greek Hellenic Coast Guard said Turkish authorities recovered five bodies in the Aegean Sea and rescued 11 others aboard a partially submerged vessel. Greek authorities have rescued five migrants on a nearby island, while the other passengers are missing. (Hellenic Coast Guard)
Farmakonisi is located about 12 miles off the coast of Didim, a small coastal town in southwest Turkey.
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The latest migrant shipwreck comes two weeks after a wooden boat sailing from Turkey ran into a sandbar in rough seas off a beach in Calabria, the tip of the Italian peninsula. At least 79 migrants died, while another 80 survived and an unknown number remain missing and presumed dead.
Police check a fishing boat with about 500 migrants in the port of Crotone in southern Italy on Saturday morning. The Italian coastguard was responding to three smuggler boats carrying more than 1,300 “in distress” migrants off the southern coast of Italy. (AP Photo/Valeria Ferraro)
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Meanwhile, more than 1,300 migrants have been rescued since Friday in three separate missions in the Mediterranean Sea off the southern tip of Italy, Italian officials said.
