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Migrant boat capsizes off Istanbul Migrant boat capsizes off Istanbul
(about 2 hours later)
At least 24 migrants drowned when a boat taking them towards European Union waters sank in the Black Sea just off Istanbul, Turkish media reported. Rescuers have pulled 24 bodies from the sea at the mouth of Istanbul’s Bosphorus strait and rescued seven people after a boat carrying migrants capsized, the Turkish coastguard command said.
Seven people were rescued and nine more were missing from the boat, which had set off earlier from Istanbul and had travelled through the Bosphorus Strait on its way to Romania. Tens of thousands of migrants from Africa, the Middle East and beyond pack into often unsafe boats each year and thousands of them drown in their efforts to enter the European Union through coastal states.
Those on board were Afghans who had each paid several thousand euros to enter the EU and had set off earlier from Bakirkoy, an Istanbul suburb on the Sea of Marmara side of the Bosphorus. The boat was carrying 42 Afghan migrants – including 12 children and seven women – and a Turkish captain, the Hurriyet news website reported. It was believed to have been heading for Bulgaria or Romania, but it was unclear where it set to sea.
The passengers included 12 children and seven women, the reports added, quoting a statement from the coastguard. Bodies covered in blankets were laid on a jetty on the European side of Istanbul’s Bosphorus strait, a witness said.
A coastguard official contacted by AFP confirmed the accident but could not give the exact number of victims. The boat capsized due to overloading and bad weather conditions. “They had life jackets. But there were bodies everywhere. Babies, children … we pulled out 15-20 bodies,” Hurriyet quoted fisherman Kadir Sert as saying.
Turkey has become a hub formigrants who aspire to reach Europe in search of a better life. The journey is frequently perilous, and hundreds of people have drowned en route to Europe in recent years. Seven coastguard vessels and a helicopter were continuing search operations in the Black Sea, three miles north of the Bosphorus, the coastguard said in a statement.
Shipping agents GAC said the boat had been heading for the Romanian port of Constanta when it sank at about 5.00am (3.00am GMT).
The governor’s office said a diving team had also been sent to the area. There was no official comment on the number of people travelling on the vessel.
Most of the migration to Europe happens via the Mediterranean Sea and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said last week that an estimated 3,200 migrants had died attempting to cross the Mediterranean this year.
“Many of them [are] victims of ruthless criminal gangs seeking to profit from the misery of men, women and children fleeing conflict and oppression,” the IOM said in a statement on its wesbite.
About 150,000 “irregular” migrants, many of them from the most troubled nations in Africa and the Middle East, had arrived safely in Europe over the past 10 months, it said.
The numbers of migrants have increased since Arab spring uprisings triggered unrest across north Africa and civil war in Syria.
The Bosphorus is a vital route for Russian oil and other commodities as the only outlet to the world’s oceans from the Black Sea. It bisects Istanbul, a city of about 15 million people. Poor weather frequently forces its closure in winter.
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