One person died and seven others were missing on Jan. 10 after a migrant boat sank in the Aegean Sea off the coast of Türkiye, the Turkish Coast Guard has announced.
Thirty-seven passengers on a rubber dinghy, which took on water before dawn off the western city of Dikili, north of İzmir, were rescued alive, the Coast Guard stated.
Dikili, a small seaside resort, faces the Greek island of Lesbos, some 20 kilometers (12 miles) away.
"Search operations ... are continuing to find the seven missing irregular migrants," the Coast Guard said.
Nearly 1,900 migrants either disappeared or were found drowned in the Mediterranean in 2025, according to the International Organization for Migration.
Türkiye has been a key transit point for irregular migrants who want to cross into Europe to start new lives, especially since the beginning of the Syrian civil war in 2011.
Migrant boats are often lost on the short but perilous route between the Turkish coast and the nearby Greek islands of Samos, Rhodes and Lesbos that serve as entry points to the European Union.
In some cases, neighboring Greece is accused of pushing back migrants in a controversial practice. In the Aegean Sea, Greek coast guard boats often drive out to avert migrant boats approaching Greek islands.
