Refugee Boat Sinks in Ayvalık, Claiming the Lives of One Child and One Baby

* News and photo: AA

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A rubber boat with refugees on board sank off the coast of Ayvalık district in Balıkesir earlier today (October 14). The capsize of the boat has claimed the lives of one child and a two-month-old baby.

While one plane, four boats and a diving team were referred to the scene of incident after the boat sank off the coast of Ayvalık for reasons yet unknown, the Coast Guard Command rescued 33 of 35 refugees on board. 

The search and rescue operations for another missing baby were still continuing as of 10.40 a.m. today. However, it has later been reported that the two-month-old baby has also died in the incident.

One out of every two refugee was child in 2018

In 2018, over 70 million people fled from war, conflict and prosecution, which marks the highest figure in the 70-year history of the UN Refugee Agency UNHCR. According to the Global Trends 2018 of the Agency, around 70.8 million people were displaced forcibly. This figure was two times higher than the one 20 years ago and 2.3 million more than the one in 2017.

In 2018, one out of every two refugees was a child. The majority of them (111 thousand) were not accompanied by an adult or their families.

The "Desperate Journeys" report of the UNHCR indicated, "An estimated 2,275 died or went missing crossing the Mediterranean in 2018, despite a major drop in the number of arrivals reaching European shores."

"In total, 139,300 refugees and migrants arrived in Europe, the lowest number in five years", the Agency underlined further in its report.

The report has described how shifts in policy by some European States saw numerous incidents where large numbers of people were left stranded at sea for days on end, waiting for permission to dock. NGO boats and their crews faced growing restrictions on their search and rescue operations. (AÖ/SD)