Fourteen irregular migrants died after a smuggling boat collided with a Turkish Coast Guard vessel off Türkiye’s southern coast early Monday during a high-speed pursuit, authorities said.
Türkiye’s Coast Guard Command said the incident occurred off the coast of Finike district in Antalya province after a high-speed inflatable boat carrying migrants was detected by a coast guard unmanned aerial vehicle at 2:24 a.m.
Two coast guard patrol boats were dispatched to intercept the vessel, which officials said attempted to flee despite repeated visual and audio warnings.
According to the coast guard, the fiber-hulled inflatable boat continued moving at high speed and ignored orders to stop.
At around 5:09 a.m., during the pursuit, the vessel abruptly turned toward a coast guard patrol boat, triggering a collision that caused several migrants on board to fall into the sea.
Authorities quickly deployed additional rescue units to the area, including a coast guard helicopter, a patrol ship and three more boats, to carry out search and rescue operations.
Rescue teams pulled six migrants alive from the water along with one Turkish suspect believed to be involved in migrant smuggling. The bodies of 14 migrants were later recovered during the search operation.
Officials said the smuggling boat fled the scene after the collision and headed toward shore. Fifteen irregular migrants who disembarked near Beymelek beach in the Demre district were later apprehended by authorities.
Search efforts were continuing to determine whether any additional migrants remained missing, while survivors were being interviewed as part of the investigation.
The Finike Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office has launched a judicial inquiry into the incident, and six suspects believed to be involved in organizing the smuggling attempt have been taken into custody.
The tragedy comes amid a rising toll of migrant deaths in the Mediterranean. According to the United Nations’ International Organization for Migration, at least 606 migrants have been reported dead or missing on the route since the start of 2026.
