Rescue workers recovered two more bodies of irregular migrants from Lake Van on Sunday after a boat carrying them sank late last month.
TURKEY HAS BEEN A KEY TRANSIT POINT FOR IRREGULAR MIGRANTS
Turkish teams continue to work to recover bodies from the Lake Van where a boat carrying up to 60 people sank deep into on June 28.
“The boat was found at a depth of 106.5 meters [349.4 feet] off Carpanak Island” in Lake Van, the Van Governorship said in a statement last week.
Lake Van, near Turkey’s border with Iran, spans some 3,755 square kilometers (1,450 square miles). More than 21,000 migrants have reached Van so far this year, Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said earlier. Of them, 16,000 were denied entry but 4,500 managed to enter through illegal means, Soylu added.
Turkey has been a key transit point for irregular migrants aiming to cross to Europe to start a new live, especially those fleeing war and persecution.