ANKARA (Sputnik) – According to the Posta newspaper, the boat, carrying some 50 people, headed for the Greek island of Lesbos. The Turkish coast guards who arrived after receiving a call from the undocumented migrants rescued 25 people during the operation.
Europe is struggling to manage a massive refugee crisis. According to EU border agency Frontex, over 710,000 people have arrived in the European Union in 2015, fleeing poverty and violence in their home countries.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) said earlier this week that the number of refugees who had crossed the Mediterranean Sea in 2015 to arrive in Greece was 15 times higher than last year.
Over 472,000 refugees from the Middle East and North Africa have arrived by sea to the country since January, compared with 31,000 arrivals registered in 2014 during the same period.