200 migrants die at sea
15/12/2007 07:38  - (SA)  

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Nearly 100 migrants feared dead 51 die in migrant disaster 10 Algerian asylum seekers die $5m needed to get migrants home Home Affairs 'closes the tap' Dead migrants 'not martyrs'

Geneva - More than 200 migrants are feared to have drowned at sea in separate incidents off Yemen, Turkey and the Canary Islands so far this month, the UN refugee agency said on Friday.

The death toll from a single incident off the Turkish coast on Saturday could rise to 86, said Jennifer Pagonis, spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner Refugees.

Pagonis said 51 people are known to have drowned when a boat carrying migrants from Turkey to Greece sank in rough weather off a town 50km southwest of Izmir. An additional 35 people are missing and presumed dead, she added.

Up to 90 migrants have been missing since they tried to cross from Senegal and Western Sahara to the Canary Islands, Pagonis said.

And 31 people were drowned or missing after trying to reach Yemen from the Horn of Africa between December 5 and 12, she said.

"Tens of thousands of boat people risk their lives each year in the Mediterranean, the Gulf of Aden, the Caribbean and off the coast of West Africa," Pagonis said. "Many are migrants seeking a better life, but some are also refugees fleeing persecution and violence."

- AP

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