Five people drown off Turkey’s southwestern coast

Ten adults and a child have been rescued off the coast of Aydin province, authorities said.

According to the Turkish Coast Guard, five people drowned in the Aegean Sea off Turkey’s southwestern coast after setting off on a dinghy, apparently heading for Greece.

The incident occurred early Saturday near the town of Didim, in the waters of Turkey’s Aydin province, the coast guard said.

In a video released by the Turkish Coast Guard, refugees and migrants can be seen swaying aboard a gray inflatable dinghy as they are buffeted by rough seas.

“Eleven migrants [10 adults, one child] were rescued… and the bodies of five were found,” the Coast Guard said in a statement Saturday.

Five surviving refugees managed to reach the Greek island of Farmakonisi, 10 km (six miles) off the Turkish coast in Ayrdin province, the Greek coastguard said.

According to a Greek Coast Guard witness statement, 31 people were on board the boat when it departed.

Deaths often occur in the Aegean Sea, with refugees and migrants boarding makeshift boats, even on stormy seas trying to reach Europe.

A woman and four children were killed in the same area in early February after their inflatable boat sank.

According to the International Organization for Migration, 2,269 people have drowned in the Eastern Mediterranean since 2014.

Further west in the Mediterranean, more than 1,300 people have been rescued in three separate operations off Italy’s southern tip, the Italian Coast Guard said Saturday, two weeks after at least 74 people died when their boat hit rocks near the coast.