Turkey Immigrant Boat Sinking: 31 Children Dead In Migrant Boat Disaster

Dozens Of Children Die In Boat Disaster
Coast guards search for survivors after at least 58 illegal immigrants drowned when a fishing boat carrying people who had been promised refuge in Europe sank after hitting rocks off the coast near Aegean city of Izmir, Turkey, Thursday, Sept. 6, 2012, officials said. Dozens of survivors, mostly from Iraq and Syria, were able to swim through the Aegean waters to shore, only 50 meters (160 feet) away.(AP Photo/Hurriyet) TURKEY OUT
Coast guards search for survivors after at least 58 illegal immigrants drowned when a fishing boat carrying people who had been promised refuge in Europe sank after hitting rocks off the coast near Aegean city of Izmir, Turkey, Thursday, Sept. 6, 2012, officials said. Dozens of survivors, mostly from Iraq and Syria, were able to swim through the Aegean waters to shore, only 50 meters (160 feet) away.(AP Photo/Hurriyet) TURKEY OUT

ANKARA, Sept 6 (Reuters) - More than half of the 60 migrants who died after their boat sank off Turkey's western coast on Thursday were children, a district official told Reuters.

Tahsin Kurtbeyoglu, governor of the coastal district of Menderes in Turkey's western Izmir province, said 31 of the dead were children, including three babies. He said most of the migrants were Palestinians. (Reporting by Jonathon Burch; Editing by Kevin Liffey)

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Turkey Immigrant Boat Sinking

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