Three-year-old Afghan boy dies as migrant boat sinks

A 3-year-old boy died when a boat carrying Afghan migrants sank off the northern coast of the Aegean Sea on Thursday.

The boy identified as Israr Ullah was traveling with 54 others who boarded the rubber boat from Enez, a town in the northwestern province of Edirne. The boat was heading to Greece when it sank after taking on water, only 1 sea mile from the coast. The Coast Guard rescued the survivors while four were hospitalized for minor injuries. The boy's body was delivered to his father, Wali Ullah, after an autopsy was conducted while locals in the small town rushed to the hospital where survivors gathered to deliver new clothes and food to them.

Illegal migrants, mostly from war-torn Syria, prefer the sea route to reach Europe where they hope to secure asylum even though it is more dangerous than the land route straddling Edirne. Although the Aegean route is a shortcut to Europe for migrants, it is also probably the deadliest. Migrants are often forced to travel in shoddy, overcrowded boats and rafts with cheap life vests that are unable to keep them afloat if their boats sink. Strong winds on the Aegean Sea add to the dangers of the journey, although the onset of spring, which brings less severe winds, is expected to lead to a renewed influx of migrants who have mostly stayed away from the beaches in the past months.

Last week, five people drowned when a boat carrying Afghan and Iranian migrants sank off the coast of Ayvacık, an Aegean town south of Enez.