Two Dead, 16 Rescued After Migrant Boat Capsizes off Turkey

  • 9/17/2018
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Two women died and sixteen other mainly Iraqi migrants, including eight children, were rescued Monday after their boat capsized off the southwestern Turkish coast, the coastguard said. The coastguard intervened to rescue the migrants after they were alerted early morning. The coast guard said Monday it is searching for one more woman reported missing from the boat. They rescued 15 Iraqis and one Syrian, the coastguard said in a statement, adding that the bodies of the two women were found. The migrants said 19 people were initially on board the boat that was on its way to Greece, according to state-run news agency Anadolu. Turkey is the worlds largest refugee-hosting country with over three million Syrians and up to 300,000 Iraqis. It is also one of the transit countries used by those fleeing war and poverty to try and get to Europe. The refugee influx hit its peak in 2015 when over a million people, including hundreds of thousands fleeing the Syrian war, landed in Greece from Turkey, mainly by boat.

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