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ELEVEN children dead after desperate journey to escape Syrian war goes wrong

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'They were on a wooden sailboat. We do not yet have a clear picture of how many were on board.'

Eleven drowned children, 16 women and seven men have been reported as the result of a capsized wooden sailboat attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea.

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Highlights

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Reuters reported at least 43 migrants drowned when boats capsized off two Greek islands near Turkey on Friday. Coastguards reported Friday being one of the deadliest days for migrants attempting to travel from Turkey to Europe.

Survivors told the coastguard that many of their fellow migrants were on a wooden sailboat, which traveled near Kalolimnos, a small island in the Aegean sea.

An official admitted that while 26 people were rescued, at least thirty-five drowned. Reasons for the boat's capsize is not yet clear, but witnesses reported strong winds.

Michalis, a local fisherman, told Reuters, "They weren't wearing life jackets, I don't understand. They couldn't swim."

He was able to rescue three migrants but one of them, a 50-year-old man, died on his fishing boat. He reported "[t]he hospital is now full of dead people. There must have been a lot of people on board. It was one of those closed yachts with a small hatch. You can imagine what happened if it had a lot of people on board."

Daily Mail reported eleven children drowned when the sailboat sank. The Turkish coastguard reported, "Six children and one woman drowned while another 41 migrants on the vessel managed to swim to the shore. Once again, last night ruthless human smugglers at the Turkish coast crammed dozens of refugees and migrants in risky and unseaworthy vessels and led innocent people, even young children to perish."

The Turkish coastguard was able to rescue 26 people and recover the bodies of eleven children, 16 women and seven men. A helicopter and private boat continued to search for survivors and authorities believe there can be anywhere from 40 to seventy survivors.

The migrants traveled from Turkey, which has been suffering from Syria's civil war. In Syria, people have been victims of starvation, murder, bombing and more.


IOM spokesman Joel Millman in Geneva reported a total number of migrants arriving by sea was roughly 37,000 in January, which is over six times the combined numbers for the same month in 2014 and 2015. Millman explained January is usually a slow month as the weather is too dangerous for sea travel.

Several Syrian refugees were forced to brave rough seas and shady dealings with ruthless smugglers in their desperate attempt to flee the civil war. They travel to Greek islands and are able to move safely to Europe from there. Sadly, not everyone makes it across the Mediterranean Sea.

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