Iranian, Afghan refugee boat capsizes in Aegean, one dead

Four of the 15 Iranian and Afghan refugees drowned after a boat capsized. A number of refugees are still making the perilous journey across the Aegean Sea between Turkey and Greece in rudimentary boats to reach the European Union.

At least four migrants drowned while crossing the Aegean Sea, according to the Turkish Coast Guard. The victims were three women and an Afghan child. They were sailing from the Turkish coast to the Greek island of Lesbos in a primitive fiberglass boat with 11 other Iranians and Afghans, but a storm caused the boat to capsize. The Turkish Coast Guard was able to rescue 11 drowning migrants.

The short 10-kilometer stretch between the Turkish coast and the island of Lesbos is often a place for refugees to risk a dangerous journey across the sometimes stormy Aegean Sea. At the peak of the 2015 refugee movement from Turkey to Greece, large numbers of refugees entered this route every day, some of them with tragic consequences. Since the signing of a deal between Turkey and the European Union to prevent the movement of refugees, the number of refugees trying to enter the EU this way has fallen sharply, and so has the number of victims.

There are currently 15,000 refugees on the Greek islands in the eastern Aegean Sea. 5,000 of them are in a camp on Lesbos that only has space for 3,100 people. 30 percent of these refugees are children and adolescents, including a large number under the age of 12, who are often unaccompanied by an adult.

Source: DW