At least 22 refugees, including four children, have drowned after a 20-meter wooden boat sank off Turkey’s coast. The worldwide Organisation for Migration (IOM) estimates that from September 11th to September 13th approximately 20,000 migrants have been registered in the Greek islands.
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Twenty-five-year-old Murad, who works for “Crossing no more“, a Syrian NGO that campaigns about the dangers of refugee boats, said the Turkish restrictions were forcing refugees to courageous the sea.
The latest deadly chapter in Europe’s refugee crisis that has been growing at an unprecedented pace comes just two days after 34 people, including 15 children, drowned off the Greek island of Farmakonissi after their rickety boat sank.
Refugees protested at Edirne bus station, demanding to be allowed to continue their march to Greece.
Hundreds of refugees barred by Turkish police from continuing their journey to Europe across a land borders with Greece and Bulgaria vowed Wednesday not to budge, despite receiving an ultimatum to leave.
Turkey stopped the penetration of Syrian refugees to Greece. We also see that too many people are forced into these boats, with no idea about sailing.
The crowds told Anadolu Agency they were responding to reports on social media that Germany would accept thousands of refugees and were waiting to buy tickets to go to Turkey’s border with Greece. “I’m here to show the world the suffering we are going through”, he said defiantly.
Joseph finds them a consignee, who, for a small fee, holds their money and pays smugglers once they get a call with a password from Europe. Frontex, in part hampered by European Union rules requiring it to cut headcount elsewhere, said it did not have the budget until only recently.
Since the beginning of the year 106,000 migrants have been rescued in the central Mediterranean, 6% less from the same period last year.
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Those seeking to reach Edirne cite the case of Aylan Kurdi, the three-year-old Syrian refugee whose tiny dead body was photographed washed up on a beach in Turkey, to explain their desire to travel overland.
