Five migrants were killed Tuesday when their boat sank as they tried to cross from Turkey's coast to a Greek Island, AFP reported.
Sixteen survivors from the boat were rescued in a mission by the Turkish coast guard, Dogan news agency reported. The boat had set off from the touristic town of Didim on Turkey's Aegean coast, heading for the island of Farmakonisi.
Turkey is home to at least 2.2 million refugees from the Syrian civil war, and has become a hub for migration to the European Union. Many refugees pay smugglers thousands of dollars to make the dangerous sea crossing in overcrowded, plastic boats.
The EU approved a deal in November to provide Turkey with $3.1 billion in assistance to stem the influx of refugees coming to Europe, but it so far has continued unabated. The International Organization on Migration (IOM) says that 45,361 migrants have arrived in Greece in January 2016 alone, outpacing arrivals a year ago by 31 times.
