Turkish sinking kills at least 60 migrants bound for UK

AT least 60 migrants ­apparently bound for Britain, most of them Palestinian and more than half of them children, have died after their overcrowded boat sank just hundreds of yards off Turkey’s western Aegean coast.

Tahsin Kurtbeyoglu, governor of the coastal district of Menderes in Turkey’s western Izmir province, said an initial investigation showed the small vessel sank due to overcrowding around dawn yesterday.

Its coastal destination was unclear but the small Turkish town of Ahmetbeyli from where it left is only a few miles from the Greek island of Samos. Greece is the single most common entry point for migrants trying to get into the European Union.

“The latest death toll we have is 60 people, including 11 men, 18 women and 31 children, including three babies,” Mr Kurtbeyoglu said.

Turkish media said the reason the death toll was so high was because the women and children were in a locked compartment in the lower section of the vessel, although there was no ­official confirmation of this.

Governor Kurtbeyoglu said 46 people had so far been rescued alive, including the ship’s Turkish captain and assistant, who had been arrested. He said there were no bodies left on the boat and he did not expect the death toll to rise any further.

The group of migrants are said to have previously made their way to hotels in the city of Izmir, where smugglers agreed to take them to Britain.

Most of the migrants were Palestinian nationals, and the authorities were still trying to determine the nationality of the others, Mr Kurtbeyoglu said. He said the survivors spoke Arabic and were of Middle Eastern ­origin.

Turkish media said there were also Syrians and Iraqis on the boat, although that could also not be confirmed.

Turkey is sheltering about 80,000 Syrian refugees near its south-eastern border with Syria, several hundred miles away on the other side of the country.

Multeci-Der, a Turkish refugee rights group based in Izmir, said Syrians made up a growing portion of illegal migrants being caught in recent weeks in Greece after fleeing from Turkey.

Television footage showed small boats and diving teams searching for survivors just off Ahmetbeyli. The boat sank less than 100 metres from the shore after leaving at around 02:30 GMT, officials said.

Turkey’s position as a bridge from Asia to Europe, as well as its wealth compared with neighbouring states, has long made it both a destination and a transit point for migrants from the Middle East and as far afield as Africa and South Asia.

The Greek island of Samos is clearly visible from Ahmetbeyli, which lies in a popular coastal region frequented by foreign and Turkish holiday makers.

About 130,000 immigrants cross Greece’s porous sea and land borders every year, the vast majority via Turkey. Greece ­received more than 1,000 migrants by sea last year, according to the United Nations refugee agency.

Another 55,000 crossed the land border between Greece and Turkey at Evros, according to Greek government figures.

Greece opened its first purpose-built detention centre for illegal migrants in April, the first of about 50 camps that Greek officials have said will be built by mid-2013.

In July, Athens said that it was quadrupling the number of guards at its border with Turkey and boosting other defences in part because of worries about a potential influx.