Turkey- At least 34 drowned as boat capsizes in Aegean Sea

9/14/2015 3:26:40 AM

(MENAFN- The Journal Of Turkish Weekly) At least 34 people have drownedafter aboatillegally carrying at least 100 migrantsto Greek islandscapsized in theAegeanSeaon Sunday Greek media reported.

The Athens-Macedonian News Agency (ANAmpa) said the tragedy unfolded early Sunday morning as the boat capsized in waters east of Farmakonisi Island.

According to the agency four infants 11children and 10women are among those who have drowned.

The Search and Rescue Coordination Centre of Greek Ministry of Maritime was informed about the capsizing of a wooden boat with refugees trying to reach Greek Farmokonisi Island and launched a helicopter supported rescuing operation.

ANAmpa said that the teams rescued 68 people whereas another 29 reached the shore unaided.

The agency says the search and rescue operations continue as the exact number of people in the boat is unknown.

As the Syrian conflict between opposition armed groups and Bashar al-Assad’s regime forces entered its fifth year millions of Syrians have fled to Turkey JordanLebanon and other nearby countries.

Tens of thousands refugees mainly Syrian are heading EU countries putting their lives in danger to reach Greek islands from Turkey with unsecure boats.

Their perilous journey continues through Macedonia Serbia and Hungary to reach Austria Germany or other EU countries.

Europe which is facing what is described as the worst refugee crisis in the continent since the World War II recently decided to accept up to 140000refugees while the Obama administration said Thursday that it would allow as many as 10000 Syrian refugeesinto the U.S. during the 2016 fiscal year.

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