 "There was no immediate information about the nationalities of those involved. (AI Image)")
Eighteen migrants lost their lives after a rubber dinghy sank in the Aegean Sea off the coast of Bodrum in southwestern Turkey on Wednesday, according to the Turkish coastguard.
Authorities said search and rescue teams managed to save several people from the water.
“Following search and rescue operations, 21 undocumented migrants were rescued alive, while the bodies of 18 others were recovered,” the coastguard said in a statement.
There was no immediate information about the nationalities of those involved.
“Efforts to determine the status of the missing (migrants) and search and rescue operations are continuing in this case,” the coastguard added.
Shipwrecks are common along this route, as migrants attempt the hazardous journey from Turkey to nearby Greek islands, seen as a gateway to the European Union.
Another deadly migrant crossing
In another incident earlier this week, 22 migrants attempting to reach Europe from North Africa died off the coast of Greece after spending six days adrift at sea in a rubber boat, survivors told the Greek coastguard on Saturday.
The coastguard said 26 people, including a woman and a minor, were rescued by a European border agency vessel near the island of Crete.
Authorities later confirmed that 21 Bangladeshis, four South Sudanese and one Chadian citizen survived the ordeal.
Survivors said the bodies of those who died were thrown into the Mediterranean Sea on the orders of one of the people smugglers aboard the vessel.
Two survivors were taken to hospital in Heraklion on Crete, the coastguard added.
Based on survivor accounts, the boat had departed from Tobruk in eastern Libya on March 21, heading towards Greece, a key entry point for migrants seeking asylum in the European Union.
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View All“During the journey, the passengers lost their bearings and remained at sea for six days without food or water,” the coastguard stated.