Five dead as refugees boat sinks off Turkey
Another five refugees have drowned in waters off Turkey while trying to reach Greece in the latest boat accident involving asylum seekers, reports say.
The incident occurred on Tuesday when the boat carrying the refugees sank in the Aegean Sea, the Dogan news agency said, adding that Turkish coastguard saved 16 more people in a search and rescue operation.
The refugees are said to have set off from the Aydin province in southwestern Turkey in an apparent bid to enter the Greek island of Farmakonisi.
Many of those asylum seekers that try to make their way to Europe start from Turkey, a country which hosts more than two million refugees from Syria.
Back in November, Ankara and the EU cut a deal over the former’s acceptance to stem the flow of refugees heading to Europe. Turkey in return was promised three billion euros in financial assistance.
However, the agreement and the beginning of winter have failed to deter the refugees, who are still arriving on the Greek islands.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) said in a Tuesday statement that more than 45,000 refugees have entered Greece by sea so far this year.
The statement added that some 90 percent of the new arrivals are Syrians, Iraqis and Afghans.
Greece served as the main entry point for more than a million refugees who reached the EU last year.
Austria and Sweden have recently threatened Athens with potential expulsion from Europe’s passport-free travel zone unless it does more to stem the refugee influx into the continent.
The current refugee crisis that Europe faces is the worst one being experienced by the continent since World War II.
Should Greece be kicked out of the visa-free Schengen zone, its borders with the rest of Europe would come under temporary controls for two years.
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