Seven children are among the 14 migrants who drowned when their boat sank off the northern Turkish Aegean coast, the Turkish media reported on Wednesday.
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United Nations figures show that more than 700,000 asylum seekers have reached Europe’s shores so far this year and that more than 3,000 others have died or gone missing in their unsafe boat journeys.
According to Dogan news agency, the incident took place on Wednesday and the Turkish coastguard rescued 27 refugees, including a pregnant woman.
Lifeguards stand with their jet skis next to a yacht that carried refugees and migrants moors near the Greek island of Lesbos on November 9, 2015.
“The boat took a hit, it began to take in water but nevertheless continued on its route”, Erkal told Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency.
Turkey, which is hosting 2.2 million refugees from the conflict in neighbouring Syria, has become the main transit point for people fleeing war and misery for a better life in Europe.
The private Dogan news agency said the children were inside the boat’s cabin when it sank and could not escape. There was no immediate information on the nationalities of those on board.
The latest tragedy came as European leaders were due to meet African counterparts in Malta to discuss the migration crisis.
The European Union expects a battle at the summit of world leaders in Turkey on Sunday to have its migration crisis recognized as a global problem needing a global response, an EU official said on Tuesday. The onset of winter has so far done little to stem the flow.
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Yesterday 10,000 crossed the border from Macedonia into Serbia.
