![Turkish Coast Guard units rescue irregular migrants in Izmir, Turkiye on November 29, 2022 [Turkish Coast Guard Command/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/GettyImages-1245191135-e1720634982224.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1)
Turkiye’s Interior Minister, Ali Yerlikaya, announced on Tuesday that Turkish authorities retrieved the bodies of seven irregular migrants off the country’s western coast, Anadolu News Agency reports.
According to the report, bodies were found near Karaada, an islet of Cesme, a popular vacation resort in Izmir province on the Aegean coast.
The report says Coast Guard Command teams were dispatched to the islet upon sightings of suspected irregular migrants while a fishing boat reported saving a migrant from a nearby point.
The coast guard picked up 18 other migrants on the islet and discovered seven bodies nearby.
Yerlikaya said they were searching for a missing migrant.
Turkiye has been a key transit point for irregular migrants who want to cross into Europe to start new lives, especially since the beginning of the Syrian civil war in 2011.
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