9 migrants, including 2 children, drown off Turkey

Sea migration routes cause large numbers of deaths, with 70 percent of the world’s migrant fatalities occurring in the Mediterranean in 2015, according to earlier IOM data, of which over one fifth occurred in the Eastern Mediterranean.

UNICEF’s special coordinator for the refugee and migrant crisis in Europe, Marie Pierre Poirier, said women and children are more vulnerable to the risks associated with the journeys to Europe.

More than 360 people died in the Mediterranean in January including more than 100 over the final weekend, the International Organisation for Migration said on Tuesday.

“(It) is many, many times what we saw a year ago in the previous January”, IOM spokesman Joel Millman said.

A sinking boat is seen behind a Turkish gendarme off the coast of Canakkale’s Bademli district o …

On Saturday, at least 39 people died in the Aegean Sea while trying to reach the Greek island of Lesbos, while three more drowned Sunday.

In a statement, the coast guard also said Tuesday it had launched a search-and-rescue mission for more possible victims after a fibreglass boat carrying the migrants partially capsized some 25 meters (80 feet) off the coast near the town of Seferihisar.

Greece responded by saying the army will do more to help police and port authorities deal with the new arrivals.

In the first month of 2016, more than 52,000 people arrived by sea in Greece, according to the IOM; more than 200 have died off the Turkish coast.

UNICEF called on the worldwide community to make protection of women and children migrants a priority, and said the best interests of each individual unaccompanied child should be examined before taking any action.

“Procedures need to be a lot faster and children need to be part of that process so they don’t fall through the cracks and they do not fall prey to smugglers and traffickers”.