Fourteen people drowned off Turkey’s western coast when a boat packed with refugees sank in the early hours of Wednesday, the Turkish Coast Guard said. The boat hit rocks shortly after leaving Ayvacik but continued on its unsafe crossing toward Lesbos. “It was severely damaged and apparently started to take in water, but they chose to go ahead anyway”, Canakkale governor, Hamza Erkal, said, adding, “They apparently turned back after the boat took in more water, but it sank before reaching the shore”.
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“It is obvious that the only real chance of stopping these flows, these huge flows that no country can manage – let alone Greece which is in crisis…is reaching an understanding with Turkey”, Tsipras said. Over 600,000 migrants and refugees, mostly from war-torn Syria, have landed in Greece this year, but almost 500 have died in the Aegean.
European Union interior ministers have agreed to deliver quicker on their promises for tackling the migration crisis as EU president Luxembourg called for averting a “humanitarian catastrophe” with winter approaching. However, there was no immediate information on their nationalities.
“Must there be another [Alan] for the world to wake up?”
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The 100-foot vessel – which had a regular capacity of about 65 people – was carrying 345 Syrian nationals when it was intercepted just off Tsonia beach on the Greek island of Lesbos on Monday, officials said. Around 3,460 people have died, according to the United Nations.
