Bodies of boy, 11, woman, 38, located off Turkish coast after Farmakonisi capsize

The bodies of a 11-year-old child and a 38-year-old woman were located off the Turkish coast by Turkish authorities on Wednesday, after a boat carrying illegal migrants to Greece capsized in the sea area of Farmakonisi, in the southern Aegean Sea, on Monday. Another 8 migrants were still missing according to reports.

The boat, which was reportedly carrying 26 Afghans and two Syrians, capsized while being towed by Greek coast guard officers. Sixteen people were rescued, while the bodies of a boy, 5, and a woman were discovered on Tueday.

On Tuesday, the United Nations refugee agency expressed its dismay at the incident.

“UNHCR is urging the authorities to investigate this incident and how lives were lost on a boat that was under tow,” said Laurens Jolles, UNHCR’s Southern Europe Regional Representative, said in a statement. “Survivors neet to be quickly moved to the mainland so that their needs can be better looked after,” he added.

Monday’s incident was the first of its kind in 2014. More than 360 people died in October last year in a capsizing off Italy’s Lampedusa.

The refugee agency estimated that some 40,00o people arrived illegally by boat in Italy, Malta and Greece last year.