Coast guard rescues over 300 migrants in western Turkey

Turkish coast guard teams have rescued 303 migrants in operations held in the western Aegean Sea regions over four days ending on April 30, local officials said.

Four people — including a Turkish citizen and two Georgian nationals — who were found aiding the illegal migrants have been detained, the governorate of Turkey’s western Izmir province said in a statement.

Among the migrants, 148 were of Syrian origin and 98 from Afghanistan, the statement said.

A court in the north-western province of Canakkale handed four Turkish nationals 30 years each in prison on Wednesday in connection with the deaths of 24 migrants when a boat sank in July 2013 in the Aegean Sea.