At least 14migrantshave drowned after a boat they were travelling in collided with a coast guard vessel offTurkey’s Mediterranean coast during a chase. The collision happened near the coast of Demre, in Antalya province, on Monday (March 9).
The vessel, which was carryingAfghans, ignored calls to stop and tried at high-speed to escape coast guard boats, the state-run Anadolu Agency quoted local Governor Hulusi Sahin as saying. Mr Sahin said seven people were rescued from the sea by coast guard teams and given immediate medical care.
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Fourteen others reached the shore where they were detained by police officers.
Search and rescue operations were continuing by land, sea and air to find any remaining survivors who could still be missing.
Authorities have launched both a judicial and an administrative investigation into the incident, according to Anadolu.
News of the drownings comes after the United Nation's migration agency said more than 600 people trying to reach Europe had been reported dead or missing in the Mediterranean since the beginning of 2026.
The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said the figure marked the deadliest start to a year in the Mediterranean since the agency began recording such data in 2014.
At least 1,340 people died in the central Mediterranean last year, according to the agency's figures, published by Reuters.
Source: Daily Express :: World Feed
