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18 refugees drown, 14 saved at sea

Davutoglu met German Chancellor Angela Merkel and some other leaders before the main summit on Thursday to discuss a possible scheme to bring Syrian refugees directly from Turkey to Europe.

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Turkish coast guards rescued eight refugees, while operations to find a missing one were still underway.

“More than 781,000 migrants have arrived in Greece by sea since the start of the year, mostly from Turkey”, it added.

Eighteen people drowned overnight when their boat sank in the Aegean Sea, off the southern Turkish town of Bodrum, as it was heading for the Greek island of Kalymnos, according to Turkish media reports.

The wave of migration across the Aegean Sea has often resulted in injuries and deaths due to either the capsizing of migrant-carrying boats or abuse of migrants by human traffickers.

At least 18 have drowned after a boat headed for Greece sank off the Turkish coast.

Refugees and migrants arrive on a dinghy from the Turkish coast to the Greek island of Lesbos, Friday, Dec. 18, 2015.

Most of the crossings originate from Turkey and in the first two weeks of December alone, 45 255 people reached the Greek islands from Turkey.

The Commission proposed to establish a European border and coast guard to “ensure a strong and shared management of external borders to further increase security for European citizens”, the statement said.

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The UNHCR put the number of arrivals by sea at 956,683 and 3,625 reported missing or dead.

People react after arriving on the Greek island of Lesbos along with other refugees