45 Kurdish migrants drown en route to Greece

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region—At least 45 Kurdish migrants have drowned in the Aegean Sea on their way to Greece, a Kurdish immigration official said.

Nazhat Hussein of the immigration department in Erbil told Rudaw that the migrants were reported missing on Friday until the bodies of 25 of them were found.

“The whereabouts of 20 others is still unknown,” he said. “Eight others were rescued.”

The boat reportedly capsized on Friday January 29 with its cargo of about 100 migrants on its way from Turkey to the Greek island of Samos.

Most of the migrants on were Kurds.

Further details on victims' identity are yet to be released by the Erbil immigrant department.  

A week earlier on Friday 22, nearly 70 Kurdish migrants drowned when their boat capsized in the Aegean Sea. The bodies of some of the dead are still missing. Others were returned to the Kurdistan Region by their relatives.