12 Syrian migrants die off Turkish coast

At least 12 Syrian migrants trying to reach Greece drowned on Wednesday when two boats sank in Turkish waters, the Turkish coastguard and media said, as an image of a toddler’s lifeless body washed ashore sparked horrified reactions on social media.

The Turkish coastguard said in a statement that two boats had sunk after separately setting off from Turkey’s Bodrum peninsula for the Greek Aegean island of Kos early Wednesday.

The corpses of 12 migrants, including five children and one woman, were found and 15 people were rescued, with some surviving after reaching the shore in life jackets. The coastguard, backed by helicopters, was continuing its search for three people still missing, the statement said. 

The Dogan news agency published an image of a corpse of a little boy wearing a red T-shirt lying face-down near Bodrum, one of Turkey’s prime tourist resorts.