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Seven die after migrant boat capsizes off Greece

September 27, 2019 at 10:00 pm

Turkish Coast Guard members rescue a woman after a boat carrying irregular migrants sank off in Ayvalik district of Balikesir, Turkey on 3 May 2019 [Turkish Coast Guard Command / Handout – Anadolu Agency]

Seven people including a baby and a four-year-old child drowned on Friday, when a dinghy carrying 18 migrants capsized, in the eastern Aegean Sea, near the Island of Oinousses, Anadolu Agency reports.

Four other people are missing in the incident.

So far 12 people have been rescued. They included four children, five men and three women.

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A large search and rescue operation has been launched, while more vessels were heading to the same area to assist in the efforts, the Greece-based state news agency ANA-MPA reported.

Authorities have not provided details of the nationalities of the victims.

Several coast guard vessels and an aircraft operated by the European border agency Frontex and a Hellenic Air Force helicopter were also present in the area, searching for missing people.