Children Among the Dead Migrants Who Drowned Off the Turkey Coast

The latest disaster comes as more than 800,00 people have made the journey to Europe by sea this year, and almost 3,500 have died in the attempt.

Fourteen people have died after their wooden boat sank on its way to the Greek island of Lesbos. The migrants’ nationalities were not immediately known.

The BBC’s Ed Thomas reports from the island of Lesbos which has seen the greatest number of arrivals.

On Wednesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan renewed a call on Western nations to share the refugee burden.

“The boat probably sank after hitting rocks”.

“Must there be another [Alan] for the world to wake up?”

Between last Friday and Sunday, close to 18,000 new migrants arrived on the Greek islands, with the tiny island of Lesbos now receiving an average of 6,000 migrants per day. Coastguard workers backed by helicopters were continuing a search for those unaccounted for, Dogan said, without specifying how many might be missing.

Europe’s leaders will offer Africa up to 3.6 billion euros ($3.8 billion) in aid at a summit in Malta on Wednesday in exchange for help tackling the migration crisis rocking Europe…

“Turkey isn’t just looking for just a financial commitment from Europe, but also for a political commitment”, Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said in an interview.

European Union courtship of Turkey came as the bloc’s internal dissension over refugees intensified with Sweden, another magnet for asylum seekers, announcing temporary border controls as of midday Thursday.

The Turkish coastguard rescued 27 and recovered the bodies of the drowned.