The body of one of two irregular migrants who were reported missing after their rubber dinghy sank off the coast of Çesme in Turkey’s western İzmir province was found Tuesday, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported.
The search for the migrants following the boat accident Monday continued from the early hours of Tuesday.
Marine police, divers and helicopters affiliated with the provincial police department supported the search efforts carried out by helicopters and boats from the Turkish Coast Guard Command.
As a result of their efforts, the teams found the body of one of the migrants, bringing the number of deaths in the boat accident to six.
Efforts are continuing to find the other migrant, who is considered lost at sea.
Two suspected migrant smugglers were also arrested.
On Monday a Coast Guard team was dispatched to the region upon receiving information that a dinghy carrying irregular migrants had sunk off Cleopatra Bay in Çesme.
It was discovered that five of the migrants had reached land, and a foreign national at sea was rescued by Coast Guard teams.
The teams found the bodies of five people — four in the sea and one on land.
After foreign nationals reported there were 13 people on the boat before it sank, a search was launched for two irregular migrants who were considered lost at sea.
Earlier in the day, Coast Guard crews apprehended18 irregular migrants off the coast of Turkey’s western Muğla province and 59 refugees off the coast of İzmir, while 23 irregular migrants were caught off the coast of northwestern Çanakkale province.
