17 migrants die as boat capsizes off Turkey's coast

Sixteen migrants and a people trafficker died when their inflatable dinghy capsized on Friday in the Aegean Sea off the Turkish resort of Bodrum, the coastguard said.

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It was the latest in a series of migrants deaths on the short but perilous route between the Turkish coast and the nearby Greek islands of Samos, Rhodes and Lesbos that serve as entry points to the European Union.

“The dead bodies of 16 illegal migrants and that of a trafficker have been recovered," the coastguard stated, adding two migrants had been rescued, The local governor's office had earlier given a death toll of 14 migrants, stating on X that a migrant had managed to alert the coastguard to the emergency.