Report Say Fourteen Dead After Migrant Boat Sinks Off Turkish Coast

Greece, along with other European Union member states, is facing the worst refugee crisis since World War II, as over 800,000 migrants arrived in Europe in 2015, according to the worldwide Organization for Migration (IOM). Of those, 512 people died.

The EU’s 28 member nations have pledged to provide experts and funds to help manage the emergency, and to share refugees among them.

Anadolu Agency says Turkish Coast Guard divers are searching the waters for more possible victims.

The boat hit rocks shortly after leaving Ayvacik but continued on its risky crossing toward Lesbos, said regional governor Hamza Erkal.

The proposal, unveiled by Asselborn after a meting of European Union interior ministers in Brussels on Monday, indicates the bloc’s plan to register asylum seekers flowing into Europe via Turkey in so-called “hotspots” in Italy and Greece has done little to tame the migrant influx not seen in Europe since WWII.

The crisis worsened over the summer when hundreds of thousands more people fleeing wars, persecution and poverty mainly in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan arrived in Greece and the Balkans via Turkey.

The bodies were pulled from a sinking wooden boat, which set sail from the province of Canakkale bound for the Greek Island of Lesbos.

The government fears that if neighboring Austria restricts their flow further along their route, the people stranded in Slovenia would be too many to handle.

He apparently hadn’t consulted others in Chancellor Angela Merkel’s governing coalition and said hours later things would remain unchanged for now.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s chief of staff is downplaying a short-lived initiative by the interior minister to give many Syrians restricted asylum, insisting that the matter is settled and procedures remain unchanged. Many have made the arduous land journey on foot through the Balkans in search of sanctuary or work in countries like Germany or Sweden.