At least one person drowned after a boat capsized off the Bodrum district of Turkey's southwestern Muğla province yesterday. Sixteen others were rescued by the Turkish Coast Guard and taken to a nearby hospital. The body of a woman was also recovered. Apparently, the migrants were trying to reach the Greek island of Kos. Separately, in the in Ayvalık district of northwestern Turkey's Balıkesir, gendarmerie units yesterday rounded up 22 Syrian and Afghan nationals, including women and children. A total of 141 migrants, including women and children, were also held in Ayvacık in the northwestern province of Çanakkale.
In the northwestern Edirne province, security forces detained 64 migrants during routine road checks. Of them, 22 Afghan nationals were detained in İpsala, 29 Pakistani were captured in Meriç and 13 Syrian, Iraqi and Palestinian nationals were detained in the city's Uzunköprü district. They were referred to the provincial migration office.
Turkey has been a main route for refugees trying to cross into Europe, especially since 2011 when the Syrian civil war broke out. Of the migrants held in 2017 in Turkey, the majority came from Pakistan - around 15,000 - followed by Afghans at around 12,000, while there were around 10,000 Syrians. Turkey has observed a 60 percent increase in migrant flow since 2016. The number was around 31,000 in 2016.
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