The bodies of nine people, some of whom might have drowned up to 10 days earlier, were found on Turkey’s western coast this week as the flow of Europe-bound migrants persisted despite rough winter weather and the efforts of the Turkish government.
The bodies of five men and one woman were found washed up on the shores of Seferihisar in the coastal province of Izmir on Tuesday, district governor Resul Celik said, adding that doctors believed they drowned five to 10 days before.
The coastguard said separately it had found the bodies of a girl and two women near Ayvacik, further north, after a boat partially capsized. It rescued 13 people, but a search continued for two men and a boy.
More than a million refugees and migrants arrived in the EU last year fleeing war or poverty in the Middle East, Africa and Asia, and about 3,700 died or went missing en route. The great majority came via Turkey to Greece.
While winter crossings are even riskier than in summer, thousands are still attempting to make them. According to the International Organization for Migration, more than 24,000 crossed the Mediterranean to Greece and Italy in the first two weeks of this month and its spokesman Joel Millman said 58 deaths had been recorded as of Tuesday.
Reuters TV footage showed on Thursday, a group of people including women and children preparing to sail from Ayvacik in a boat with a plastic barrel attached to it, using a shovel to paddle away.
The footage showed another group of about 70 people including children, some wet and shaking, detained near the harbor by the coastguard.
In a deal struck at the end of November, Turkey promised to help stem the flow of migrants to Europe in return for cash, improved visa access and renewed talks on joining the EU.
However, Italy is blocking the plan, two European officials said on Thursday.
The move marks a further escalation in Italy’s combative position on EU issues. Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi blasted German Chancellor Angela Merkel at an EU summit last month over EU policies on energy, banking and migration.
Since then, Italy has reiterated its opposition to the funding of the EU plan to stem migrants coming to Europe through Turkey, officials said. The plan is strongly backed by Germany, which is the final destination of most.
“There is only one member state that still has objections against the funding for Turkey. We do not understand why Italy is blocking it,” a European diplomat said.
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble was expected to raise the issue at yesterday’s meeting of EU finance ministers in Brussels, a diplomat said.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
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Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia
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