Turkey rescued 190 irregular migrants in the Aegean Sea after Greek authorities pushed them back into Turkish territorial waters, the Turkish Coast Guard said Saturday.
Thirty-one were rescued from a rubber boat off Datca district and 16 off Bodrum, in Mugla province. A total of 99 were saved off Izmir province, according to the Coast Guard Command.
Forty-four irregular migrants were also rescued off the coast of Fethiye in Mugla. One migrant fell into the sea as they were trying to board a commercial ship.
Search and rescue operations, involving two Coast Guard ships and a Coast Guard boat, are ongoing to locate the missing migrant.
The migrants were taken to the provincial migration management directorates.
Turkey and global rights groups have repeatedly condemned Greece’s illegal practice of pushing back asylum seekers, saying it violates humanitarian values and international law by endangering the lives of vulnerable migrants, including women and children.