Sixteen dead as refugee boat sinks off northern Cyprus

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A boat carrying 150 refugees has sunk off the coast of northern Cyprus, killing at least 16 people.

Thirty people are still missing as rescuers continue to search for survivors, Turkey’s state news agency Anadolu said.

So far 103 migrants have been rescued by Turkish and northern Cypriot coast guards, helped by commercial boats in the area.

Tolga Atakan, transport minister in northern Cyprus, a breakaway state recognised only by Turkey, was quoted by Turkish newspaper Hurriyet as saying the coast guard was still searching for 30 people and that it was not immediately clear how many people had been on the boat.

Hurriyet, without citing sources, said the boat had been detected by radar on Tuesday night but sank early on Wednesday morning.

From January to May this year at least 26 migrants died trying to cross to Europe from Turkey, according to coast guard statistics.

Mediterranean arrivals to the bloc, including refugees making the longer and more perilous crossing from north Africa to Italy, stood at 172,301 in 2017, down from 362,753 in 2016 and 1,015,078 in 2015, according to data from the United Nations.

Turkey’s coast guard was not immediately available for comment.

The news comes as a sea rescue charity is taking a lone survivor and the bodies of two dead migrants found at sea to Spain, after clashing with Italy over what should be done with them.

Proactiva Open Arms recovered the bodies of a woman and a young boy along with one surviving woman in a wrecked boat in the central Mediterranean on Tuesday.

It accused the Libyan coast guard of abandoning them and criticised Italy for shutting its ports to rescued migrants.

Proactiva subsequently said Italy had agreed to take in the survivor, but not the two bodies. As a result, the Spanish charity decided to ask Spain to let it dock there, even though this would entail a much longer sea voyage.

Agencies contributed to this report.