5 children, among 21 migrants killed after boat capsizes off Turkey’s Aegean coast

Local officials said the boat, filled with migrants, begun sinking overnight and on Friday many ambulances were standing by at the port of Kabatepe near Gokceada

Officials said two people were rescued by the Turkish coastguard and another two managed to make it out of the water on their own

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A coast guard officer looks for victims, after migrants drowned after a boat carrying them capsized off the Turkish coast in the Aegean Sea. Photo: DHA/AFP

Published: 8:49pm, 15 Mar 2024

Twenty-one migrants, including five children, drowned after a boat capsized off the Turkish coast, local officials said on Friday.

The victims’ nationalities were not yet known. Officials said two people were rescued by the Turkish coastguard and another two managed to make it out of the water on their own.

The boat capsized off Turkey’s largest island, called Gokceada or Imbros, which is located in the Aegean Sea off the coast of the northwestern province of Canakkale near Greece’s Lemnos island.

“Security teams found the bodies of 21 people including five children,” the local governor’s office said in a statement.

Ambulances parked by a coastguard boat as officials unload bodies of 21 migrants, including five children, that drowned after a boat carrying them capsized off the Turkish coast in the Aegean Sea. Photo: DHA/AFP

The search and rescue operation was backed by one aeroplane, two helicopters, one drone, 18 boats and 502 personnel, it added.