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19 people die in refugee boat sinking off Cyprus

Wednesday, 18 July 2018 3:44 PM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 18 July 2018 3:48 PM ]

Members of the Spanish NGO Proactiva Open Arms lift the body of a woman onto their rescue boat in the Mediterranean Sea about 85 miles off the Libyan coast on July 17, 2018. (Photo by AFP)

A boat transporting 150 refugees has sunk in the Mediterranean Sea off the north of Cyprus, leaving at least 19 people dead and up to 30 unaccounted for, local security forces say.

The vessel went down off the village of Gialousa (Yeni Erenkoy in Turkish) on the Karpas peninsula in the breakaway Turkish Cypriot-controlled portion of Cyprus, which is only recognized by Ankara, on Wednesday.

Turkish Cypriot and Turkish coast guards rescued more than 100 people.

The Turkish Cypriot security forces, known as the GKK, said in a statement that at least 19 people drowned and between 25 and 30 were still unaccounted for. The statement said one rescued person was in critical condition and was taken by helicopter to Cyprus.

Rescuers were searching for the missing with commercial vessels also participating in the search efforts, reports said.

Cyprus has been divided into Turkish Cypriot-controlled northern and Greek Cypriot-controlled southern territories since a brief war in 1974, which saw Turkey intervene militarily in response to a military coup on the island, which was backed by the Athens government to annex Cyprus to Greece.

Refugees look at the sea from the deck of the boat of the Spanish NGO Proactiva Open Arms on July 1, 2018. (Photo by AFP)

According to Turkey's DHA news agency, the refugees were Syrians seeking to go to Europe. The report has yet to be confirmed, however.

Europe has been facing an unprecedented inflow of refugees fleeing war and violence in Africa and the Middle East, particularly Syria.

Over a million refugees entered the 28-nation bloc in 2015 through Turkey and Greece and then made their way through the Balkans to Germany and other northern member states.

Turkey struck a deal with the EU in 2016, which is about stemming the flow of refugees into Europe. Under the deal, Turkey has agreed to take back any asylum seekers who land in Greece via Turkish territory in return for cash and accelerated EU membership talks.

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