NICOSIA: Cypriot police said the body of a man was retrieved off the Mediterranean island’s western coast Thursday after newly arrived migrants said one among them had fallen overboard.
Police said a group of 44 Syrians — including two women and four children — were found wandering in the Peyia area north of Paphos.
The migrants told police that a man on the boat they were traveling in had gone missing before they reached the shore.
Authorities launched a rescue operation, and the body of a man was discovered in the waters.
A police official said the body was found after an extensive search using a helicopter, but it had yet to be formally identified.
The missing migrant was reported to be a 24-year-old Syrian.
Police believe the Syrians were smuggled from Turkey and dropped off pre-dawn before the boat departed.
Cyprus has complained that people smugglers have driven a huge rise in asylum seekers landing on its shores from Turkey in recent years.
The small EU state has lobbied Brussels to take action over the “disproportionate” numbers of asylum seekers it receives.
After being processed, the migrants who arrived on Thursday morning will be transferred to a reception center outside the capital Nicosia.
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One dead off Cyprus as more than 40 Syrian migrants arrive
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One dead off Cyprus as more than 40 Syrian migrants arrive
- A group of 44 Syrians were found wandering in the Peyia area north of Paphos
- The migrants told police that a man on the boat they were travelling in had gone missing before they reached the shore
Ankara city hall says water cuts due to ‘record drought’
ANKARA: Water cuts for the past several weeks in Turkiye’s capital were due to the worst drought in 50 years and an exploding population, a municipal official told AFP, rejecting accusations of mismanagement.
Dam reservoir levels have dropped to 1.12 percent and taps are being shut off for several hours a day in certain districts on a rotating schedule in Ankara, forcing many residents to line up at public fountains to fill pitchers.
“2025 was a record year in terms of drought. The amount of water feeding the dams fell to historically low levels, to 182 million cubic meters in 2025, compared with 400 to 600 million cubic meters in previous years. This is the driest period in the last 50 years,” said Memduh Akcay, director general of the Ankara municipal water authority.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called the Ankara municipal authorities, led by the main opposition party, “incompetent.”
Rejecting this criticism, the city hall says Ankara is suffering from the effects of climate change and a growing population, which has doubled since the 1990s to nearly six million inhabitants.
“In addition to reduced precipitation, the irregularity of rainfall patterns, the decline in snowfall, and the rapid conversion of precipitation into runoff (due to urbanization) prevent the dams from refilling effectively,” Akcay said.
A new pumping system drawing water from below the required level in dams will ensure no water cuts this weekend, Ankara’s city hall said, but added that the problem would persist in the absence of sufficient rainfall.
Much of Turkiye experienced a historic drought in 2025. The municipality of Izmir, the country’s third-largest city on the Aegean coast, has imposed daily water cuts since last summer.
Dam reservoir levels have dropped to 1.12 percent and taps are being shut off for several hours a day in certain districts on a rotating schedule in Ankara, forcing many residents to line up at public fountains to fill pitchers.
“2025 was a record year in terms of drought. The amount of water feeding the dams fell to historically low levels, to 182 million cubic meters in 2025, compared with 400 to 600 million cubic meters in previous years. This is the driest period in the last 50 years,” said Memduh Akcay, director general of the Ankara municipal water authority.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called the Ankara municipal authorities, led by the main opposition party, “incompetent.”
Rejecting this criticism, the city hall says Ankara is suffering from the effects of climate change and a growing population, which has doubled since the 1990s to nearly six million inhabitants.
“In addition to reduced precipitation, the irregularity of rainfall patterns, the decline in snowfall, and the rapid conversion of precipitation into runoff (due to urbanization) prevent the dams from refilling effectively,” Akcay said.
A new pumping system drawing water from below the required level in dams will ensure no water cuts this weekend, Ankara’s city hall said, but added that the problem would persist in the absence of sufficient rainfall.
Much of Turkiye experienced a historic drought in 2025. The municipality of Izmir, the country’s third-largest city on the Aegean coast, has imposed daily water cuts since last summer.
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