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At least 43 migrants drown when boats capsize off Greek islands
[REUTERS] At least 43 people, including 17 children, drowned when their boats capsized off two Greek islands near the Turkish coast on Friday, coastguards said, marking one of the deadliest days for migrants risking the perilous route to Europe from ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... According to survivors' testimonies, dozens were on board a wooden sailboat which went down off Kalolimnos, a small island in the Aegean Sea close to Turkey's coast, one coastguard official said. Twenty six people were rescued and at least 35 migrants drowned in one of the worst incidents in months, the official said. It was not clear why the vessel capsized, but witnesses said strong winds were blowing at the time. Fishing vessels assisted the search and rescue operation which lasted hours. "They weren't wearing life jackets, I don't understand. They couldn't swim," Michalis, a local fisherman, told Rooters. He rescued three migrants but one of them, a 50-year old man, later died in his small fishing boat. "The hospital is now full of dead people."
[AnNahar] Turkish police have seized more than 2,500 unsafe life jackets destined for migrants wanting to cross the Aegean Sea to Greece, in the latest crackdown on businesses exploiting refugees in western "Boss, we've used up all that bubble wrap stuff and we still got four hundred left on the order!" "Here! Use this!" "What is it?" "Flour." Police raided 120 underground workshops and companies in eight cities in western and southern Turkey, including Istanbul, and seized the substandard life vests as well as wet suits, diving masks and helmets, Anatolia news agency said. The products were destroyed by the police, it added. "Here. Use it to make biscuits." Earlier this month, police have confiscated over 1,200 unsafe life jackets destined for use by migrants trying to reach Greece by sea, in a raid on an underground workshop that used Syrian underage labor in Izmir, a city on the Aegean coast. AFP correspondents who reported on the wave of migrants heading from Turkey to Greece have seen a booming trade in life jackets in Turkish resorts for sale at suspiciously low prices. The life jackets, many of which are simply stuffed with synthetic materials with no buoyancy, have proved of little use to refugees whose bodies have washed up on Turkish beaches after their boats sank while on their way to Greece.
Posted by: Fred 2016-01-23 |
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