One dead after smuggling boat sinks off Turkey

One man drowned after a fishing boat with at least 20 illegal immigrants on board sank off Turkey’s western coast while trying to reach neighboring Greece, a local official said yesterday. Local fishermen alerted authorities when they saw the boat capsize and sink off Seferihisar, a town in the Aegean province of Izmir, late Saturday, the town’s governor Orhan Karadibi told the Anatolia news agency. Security forces found the body of a man washed ashore, while the coast guard rescued 17 people from the sea and four illegal immigrants were caught on land, Karadibi said. “We are unable to determine the exact number of people on board the ship, as the survivors, Somalis and Palestinians, are giving conflicting testimony. Some say there were 20 or 21 people aboard, while others put the number at 24 or 25,” Karadibi said. A search was under way both at sea and on land for possible survivors or bodies, he added.
(20.11.06)   Kathimerini English Edition   ()
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