Four immigrants drowned on Thursday night after their boat — heading to Greece — sank offshore Balıkesir’s Burhaniye in Turkey.
The boat that was carrying immigrants set off from the Burhaniye district and was heading to the Greek island Lesvos late on Thursday. It sank while traveling offshore Burhaniye for reasons that are not yet known. Four people of Syrian origin were killed, among them were three children.
The rescue efforts began at around 3:00 a.m. on Friday and are still continuing. So far, nine people have been rescued.
This is not the first time that immigrants who are trying to reach Greece, drown. These incidents occur too often, especially close to the island of Lesvos, which serves a passage to Greece, seeing as it is near Turkey. On December 16, 2013, 21 immigrants were found dead off the shore of Lesvos. Another tragedy that shocked Greece, was the shipwreck near the island of Lefkada claiming the lives of 12 victims.
The majority of these immigrants come from the Middle East and mainly from Syria, trying to escape the war.
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