Turkey: 15 migrants killed, 15 missing after boat sinks

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) - A fishing boat carrying migrants sank off Turkey's coast in the Black Sea early Friday, killing at least 15 and leaving an estimated 15 others missing, the Turkish coast guard said.

At least 40 migrants were rescued by coast guard boats and commercial ships, the Coast Guard Command said in a statement.

The fishing vessel sank just before dawn off the coast of Kefken, about 200 kilometers (125 miles) east of Istanbul, the coast guard said. It said a coast guard plane and two boats were dispatched to the region after a commercial ship reported a distress signal from a fishing vessel.

There was no information on the nationalities of the migrants or where they were heading to. Migrants, however, are increasingly trying to cross the Black Sea from Turkey to reach Romania.

Ambulances and medical teams, sent to the port of Kefken, carried out medical checks on the survivors who were later hospitalized. Two injured survivors were immediately rushed to a nearby hospital by helicopter, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported. A pregnant woman miscarried during the tragedy, it added.

The coast guard plane, a helicopter, three vessels as well as five commercial ships joined the search and rescue effort for about 13 or 15 migrants who are unaccounted for, the coast guard said.

More than 830 migrants were caught at sea along with 10 suspected smugglers while trying to cross the Black Sea in seven separate incidents between Aug. 13 and Sept. 9, the Coast Guard Command said.