Seven migrants found dead off Turkish Aegean coast

At least seven people have been found dead off Türkiye's Aegean coastline, authorities said on Tuesday.

Nineteen people were rescued off Izmir province while a search for one missing is underway, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said on social media platform X.

A life raft carrying the irregular migrants was earlier pushed back by the Greek coast guard towards Turkish waters, the Turkish Coast Guard said, citing some of the rescued migrants.

Earlier on Tuesday, the coast guard received reports of irregular migrants on a small Turkish island off the coast near Izmir, the coast guard said on its website.

A fisherman rescued one person from the sea and suspected that there were others in the water. The Coast Guard rescued 18 others from the island while one person is still unaccounted for, it added.