Migrant boat sinks off Turkey, at least 2 dead
ANKARA (AP) – A boat packed with illegal migrants capsized off Turkey’s Aegean coast yesterday, killing two Nigerian women, Turkish officials said. Seven other migrants were missing and feared drowned. The boat, carrying 24 illegal migrants from Iran and Nigeria, sank shortly after sailing from the resort of Didim on its way to Greece, Governor Emir Durmaz told the Anatolia news agency. The coast guard rescued 15 of the passengers. A search for the missing was under way, Durmaz said. But paramilitary police told Anatolia there was little hope of finding any of them alive. Thousands of migrants from the Middle East, Asia and Africa pay Turkish smugglers to sneak them into prosperous European countries. The European Union is pressuring Turkey to halt the flow.
