4-year old Syrian girl drowns off coast of Turkey

According to Turkish news agency Anadolu, a 4-year old Syrian girl was found dead off the coast of western Turkey near the area of Cesme, opposite the Greek island of Chios. Turkish coast guards managed to rescue 14 Syrian refugees, 8 of which were children, when the boat they were in sank in the Aegean as they were attempting to enter Greece. The tragic death of the young Syrian girl comes only weeks after the international community was shocked at the images of the body of Ailan Kurdi, the 3-year old Syrian boy washed up on the shores of Turkey’s coastal city of Bodrum. Over the past months more and more Syrian refugees are attempting to make the dangerous crossing over the Aegean from Turkey to Greece in search of a better future for their families. Many times their dreams of reaching ‘the promise land’ of Europe turn into nightmares as the flimsy boats they travel in are capsized in the cold waters of the Aegean Sea. Last Tuesday 22 refugees and migrants drowned as they tried to reach the Greek island of Kos. The Turkish authorities says they have received approximately 2.2 million refugees since the civil war in Syria started and spent 7.6 billion Euros to host them. Turkey might be assisting Syrian refugees but it still fails to control human traffickers operating on the west coast of Turkey, with some arguing Turkish authorities often turn a blind eye to the illegal trafficking of refugees, and even accommodate them to transport Syrians and refugees to Greece.