ISTANBUL: Three people died and four were missing on Tuesday after a refugee boat carrying eight people capsized in a river that flows between Turkey and Greece, a spokeswoman for Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Organization (AFAD) said.
The eighth refugee had made it into Greece, it said.
The boat was traveling along the Maritsa River, in Turkey’s northwestern province of Edirne, when it capsized early on Tuesday, the first aid organization said. Nearby residents heard yells and informed the local gendarmarie forces.
Searchers recovered three bodies, it said, adding that two of them were children — one around 12 years old and the other around four. The causes of death were not yet determined.
AFAD was still looking for the four others on the boat but said the cold temperatures and the strong currents in the water was impeding operations.
A 2016 deal between Turkey and the European Union sharply reduced the flow of refugees into the bloc, many of whom had made the short but dangerous sea crossing from Turkey to Greek islands a few miles offshore.
Overall Mediterranean arrivals to the European Union, including refugees making the longer and more perilous crossing from north Africa to Italy, stood at 172,301 in 2017, down from 362,753 in 2016 and 1,015,078 in 2015, according to UN data.
Three dead after refugee boat capsizes near Turkey-Greece border
Three dead after refugee boat capsizes near Turkey-Greece border
North Korea test-fires long-range, high-altitude missile on Christmas Eve
- KCNA says Kim Jong Un oversaw the new tests at an undisclosed location
- Putin sent a message to Kim to celebrate New Year’s Day, KCNA says
SEOUL: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un oversaw the test-firing on Wednesday of a long-range surface-to-air missile at a launch site near its east coast, state media KCNA reported on Thursday.
The test, aimed at assessing the country’s strategic technology for developing a new type of high-altitude missile, destroyed targets in the air from 200 km (124 miles) away, KCNA said.
Kim also observed construction work at a separate site on an 8,700-ton nuclear-powered submarine capable of launching surface-to-air missiles, KCNA said. It did not identify the location or the date of his visit.
The submarine project is part of the North Korean ruling party’s effort to modernize the country’s Navy, one of five key policies the party is pushing to develop its defense capabilities, KCNA said.
Kim was quoted as saying that the all-out development of nuclear capabilities and modernization of the Navy are essential and inevitable, while “the present world is by no means peaceful.”
Kim also said South Korea’s plan for developing a nuclear submarine, agreed with Washington, would further inflame tensions on the Korean Peninsula and poses a risk to national security that requires him to take action.
Message from Putin
in another report, KCNA said Russian President Vladimir Putin sent a message on December 18 to Kim to celebrate New Year’s Day.
The year 2025 had a “special meaning” for the relationship between Moscow and Pyongyang, Putin said in the message to Kim, according to KCNA.
The message said “heroic” participation of North Korean soldiers in the war in Russia’s western Kursk region “clearly proved the invincible friendship” between the two countries, according to KCNA.
