ISTANBUL: At least 22 people drowned, including seven children, when a rubber boat carrying migrants sank off Turkiye’s northwest province of Canakkale, the local governor’s office said on Friday, adding that search and rescue efforts continued.
In a statement, the Canakkale governor’s office said that two people had been rescued by the coast guard and two others had survived “by their own means” after the boat capsized.
It said a plane, two helicopters, and a total of 18 vessels from the coast guard and other rescue authorities were involved in the search and rescue efforts, along with 502 personnel.
Footage from Kabatepe port showed a boat taking part in search and rescue operations returning to port with body bags on the deck. Health workers and security personnel could be seen carrying the body bags off the boat and onto ambulances waiting there.
Earlier, Canakkale Governor Ilhami Aktas told the state-run Anadolu news agency that the four rescued migrants were admitted to hospital.
It was not immediately clear how many migrants were on the boat, the governor told Anadolu.
Migrant boat sinks off Turkiye, children among 22 dead
https://arab.news/jbp6q
Migrant boat sinks off Turkiye, children among 22 dead
- Two people had been rescued by the coast guard and two others had survived “by their own means“
- Footage from Kabatepe port showed a boat taking part in search and rescue operations
Syrian government announces ceasefire in Aleppo
- Syrian government forces have been fighting the Kurdish-led SDF force in Aleppo, where at least 21 people have been killed in several days of clashes
DAMASCUS: Damascus: Syria’s defense ministry announced a ceasefire in several neighborhoods of Aleppo on Friday after days of deadly clashes with Kurdish fighters.
“To prevent any slide toward a new military escalation within residential neighborhoods, the Ministry of Defense announces ... a ceasefire in the vicinity of the Sheikh Maqsoud, Alashrafieh, and Bani Zeid neighborhoods of Aleppo, effective from 3:00 am,” the ministry wrote in a statement.
Syrian government forces have been fighting the Kurdish-led SDF force in Aleppo, where at least 21 people have been killed in several days of clashes.
Both sides have traded blame over who started the clashes on Tuesday, which comes as implementation stalls on a deal to merge the Kurds’ administration and military into the government.
The worst violence in Aleppo since Syria’s Islamist authorities took power has also highlighted regional tensions between Damascus ally Turkiye and Israel, which condemned what it described as attacks against the Kurds.
