9 Syrian refugees die off Turkish coast: Official
At least nine Syrian refugees struggling to reach Greece have drowned in two separate incidents after their boats overturned in Turkish waters, a coastguard official from Turkey says.
In the first incident, three people were rescued and six more went missing after a fiberglass boat, carrying 16 Syrians, sank after leaving Turkey's Bodrum peninsula for the Greek island of Kos early on Wednesday, the official said, adding that the bodies of seven asylum seekers from the boat were found.
In the second accident, two people were killed after a boat carrying six Syrians towards Kos capsized just off Bodrum, the same official noted.
Two people were saved, and search and rescue operations were continuing for the other two still missing.
A large number of refugees -- mostly from crisis-hit Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Africa -- have in recent years tried to make the perilous sea journey from Turkey to Greece in a bid to continue their trip to reach western European countries.
Taking advantage of the calm summer weather in recent months, the refugees pay large sums of money to human traffickers to make the journey.
The Turkish coastguard has rescued more than 42,000 asylum-seekers in the Aegean Sea since the beginning of the current year, the government said on Tuesday.
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