Nineteen Afghan migrants, including a baby, died after an inflatable dinghy sank in the Aegean Sea off southwestern Turkey on Wednesday, Agence France-Presse reported, citing the authorities.
The Turkish Coast Guard said the group was traveling in a rubber boat off the coast of Bodrum, a resort town in Muğla province, when it ignored orders to stop and tried to flee at high speed. The boat later began taking on water and sank.
Rescue teams recovered 18 bodies from the sea and pulled 21 people out alive, but one of the survivors later died in the hospital, bringing the death toll to 19, the coast guard said.
Muğla Governor İdris Akbıyık told reporters that a baby was among the victims and said all of the migrants on board were Afghan nationals, according to Turkish media reports.
The coast guard said search efforts were continuing for one migrant who was still missing.
Akbıyık attributed the sinking to bad weather and rough seas.
Deadly shipwrecks are common on the route between Turkey’s western coast and nearby Greek islands, a short but dangerous crossing often used by migrants and asylum seekers trying to reach the European Union.
Turkey remains a major transit point for people fleeing conflict, poverty and persecution in Asia, the Middle East and elsewhere, many of whom attempt the journey in overcrowded and unsafe boats.
