21 August 2016•Update: 21 August 2016
By Denizhan Guzel
IZMIR, Turkey
One person was killed and two others went missing after a boat carrying 15 refugees capsized in the Aegean Sea, a security source said Sunday.
The boat had set sail from Cesme town in western Turkey's Izmir province on Sunday morning before it capsized on its way to the Greek island of Chios.
Turkish Coast Guards found a Syrian woman's body and rescued 12 other refugees.
A search-and-rescue operation continued for two missing people.
According to figures released by the Turkish Coast Guard, a total of 279 migrants lost their lives in the Aegean in 2015, mainly through unsafe vessels, such as inflatable boats.
Over the past year, thousands of people have made short but perilous attempts to cross the Aegean in a bid to reach Greece via Turkey, before continuing their journey to northern and western Europe.
A refugee deal between Turkey and the EU, signed on March 18, aims to discourage irregular migration through the Aegean Sea by taking stricter measures against human traffickers and improving the conditions of nearly three million Syrian refugees in Turkey.
