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.