Five migrant die after boat sinks off western Turkey
Boat carrying migrants reportedly sinks off the coast of the Dikili district of Turkey's western Izmir province.
A Turkish coast guard ship patrols in the Aegean Sea off the Turkish coast, April 20, 2016, part of a NATO naval presence meant to monitor illegal naval movement between Turkey and Greece.
Five people, including three children, died after a boat carrying 15 migrants sank off the coast of western Turkey on Monday, the Turkish coast guard said.
It said five others were missing and a search was underway.
The coast guard said it had plucked three people from the sea with the help of local fishing boats after the vessel with the refugees aboard went down off the coast of the western province of Izmir. Two other people swam to shore, it added.
One Iranian and 14 Afghan nationals were on the boat before it sank , the coast guard said, adding that search operations for the five missing people were continuing.
On October 15, Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said that 80,000 Afghan irregular migrants were held in Turkey in 2018 and the number stood at 45,000 for the whole year of 2017.
The population of Afghanistan is around 35 million people.
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