Twelve die after boat sinks off western Turkey

IZMIR, Turkey

At least 12 refugees have drowned in the Aegean Sea after their boat sank near the Foca district of the western Turkish province of Izmir.

The Turkish Coast Guard found the bodies on Thursday while on patrol. However, 26 other people were rescued, including children and women, and 12 more missing.

Local hospitals are currently treating those who were found as coast guard teams brought the bodies of victims back to Foca harbor.

According to the refugees, an unspecified number of people were still missing. A search-and rescue-operation by air and sea was still underway.

Over the past year, hundreds of thousands have made short but perilous journeys across the Aegean in a bid to reach northern and western Europe in search for a better life. Worsening weather conditions in the winter make the trip even more dangerous.

Of the more than one million refugees who arrived in the EU last year, more than 850,000 arrived by sea in Greece from Turkey, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). Over the course of the year, 805 people died in the Aegean.

In the first two weeks of 2016, more than 23,000 people arrived by sea in Greece and 50 have died, the IOM said.