TRT earlier quoted Tahsin Kurtbeyoglu, a local administrator, as saying 20 bodies were recovered, but the toll rose through the day as more bodies were pulled from within the boat’s confines|Nine children were among the dead, according to Turkey’s Dogan News Agency|It was not immediately clear when the boat sank, but many such vessels carrying migrants make the journey at night to avoid detection by authorities|Ambulances waited at the top of a cliff, but there were no indications that anyone else had survived}

(AP) ISTANBUL – Some 58 people drowned when a fishing boat carrying migrants that smugglers had promised refuge in Europe sank after hitting rocks off the coast of western Turkey, officials said Thursday.

Nine children were among the dead, according to Turkey’s Dogan News Agency. Several dozen survivors, mostly from Iraq and Syria, were able to swim through the Aegean waters to shore, only 160 feet away.

Survivors had told authorities that some people were trapped below the deck of the submerged vessel, and divers launched an operation to try to find them. Television footage showed several rescue vessels near the dim outline of the submerged boat, which lay just below the surface of the water. Ambulances waited at the top of a cliff, but there were no indications that anyone else had survived.

The group of migrants had previously made their way to hotels in the city of Izmir, where smugglers agreed to take them to Britain. Authorities arrested two Turkish suspects in the smuggling operation, 경상남도출장업소 Turkey’s TRT television reported.

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