Migrant boat hits Turkish coast guard vessel, five dead

ANKARA: Five people were killed and another severely wounded when a boat carrying migrants hit a Turkish coast guard vessel off northwest Turkey on Sunday night, a local governor’s office said, adding a search operation was underway for a missing person.

In a statement, the governor’s office said a high-speed boat carrying 34 migrants and one migrant trafficker hit the coast guard vessel off Ayvalik district’s Badavut coast.

“As a result of the search and rescue operations in the region, it was determined that 5 people who fell into the sea lost their lives.

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One person, a woman, was severely wounded and sent to hospital,” it said, adding authorities were still searching for one missing person.

An investigation has been launched into the incident by the Ayvalik prosecutor’s office, it said.

The Aegean Sea is a frequent transit route for migrants attempting to cross from North Africa and the Middle East into Europe.

This is not a first incident of migrant boat capsize incident in Turkey, earlier this year in April  two boats carrying migrants capsized in the narrow sea passage between Türkiye and the Greek island of Lesbos, leaving at least 16 people dead.

Deaths on this eastern Mediterranean route, from Turkey towards Greece, are relatively common. The UNHCR said in 2024, 125 people were recorded as dead or missing in migrant boats capsize incidents. Greek maritime police said that in March, at least one migrant died, and 18 others were rescued on this route, after the smuggler abandoned them part of the way, in order to try and escape the controls and return to Turkey undetected, reported AFP.