Migrants drown after boat capsizes, sinks near Cyprus

At least 19 people drowned when a boat carrying close to 150 suspected migrants capsized and sank 16 miles off the northern coast of Cyprus, according to Turkish officials Wednesday. A commercial ship from Panama sighted survivors in the water and alerted the coast guard, which rescued 103 of the passengers. Tolga Atakan, transport minister of Northern Cyprus, said rescue crews continue to search for 25 missing people. Authorities don’t know why the boat sank, where it departed, or where it was headed, Aysegul Baybars, interior minister of Northern Cyprus, told Turkey’s CNN-Turk television.

Constantinos Petrides, the interior minister of Cyprus, said the 2,500 asylum applications his country received in the first half of this year ties it with Greece for the most asylum seekers per capita in the European Union. Petrides said trafficking rings are increasingly transporting migrants from Turkey into the breakaway region of Northern Cyprus. A 2016 deal between Turkey and Europe significantly reduced the number of migrants attempting to cross into Europe from Turkey.