A boat with 45 migrants on board was wrecked off the coast of southwestern Turkeysaid the Turkish Defense Ministry on Friday, which immediately launched a search and rescue operation.
The Coast Guard is searching for the lost ship “after receiving a warning” that sank on Thursday about 260 kilometers off the coast of the seaside resort of Kas, the ministry said in a statement.
There was no immediate information on the nationality of the migrants.
Illegal migrants often use Turkey as a gateway to the prosperous countries of Western Europe via Greece. Many of them hire smugglers and risk their lives on dangerous voyages on overloaded ships.
In 2016, Turkey signed an agreement with the European Union to curb the flow of migrants to the EU.
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