39 refugees, including children, drown off Turkish coast

At least 39 refugees, including several children, have drowned off the Turkish coast while trying to cross the Aegean Sea to Greece.

Over 60 have been rescued from the sea near the Turkish resort of Ayvacik, many of whom are now being treated in hospital for hypothermia.

The Turkish coastguard said that the refugees had been trying to reach the Greek island of Lesbos – one of the most popular European arrival points for asylum seekers.

Turkey's Anadolu news agency said that the people on board the boat hailed from Afghanistan, Syria and Myanmar

The Turkish coastguard said that the refugees had been trying to reach the Greek island of Lesbos – one of the most popular European arrival points for asylum seekers.

The deputy governor of Turkey's Canakkale province, Saim Eskioglu, said the 17m boat "hit rocks soon after it left the coast".

"We believe there are more dead bodies inside the boat,'' he told CNN-Turk TV.

A Turkish man suspected of being the people smuggler who organised the trip has been arrested, according to Turkey's Dogan news agency.

The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said on Friday that 244 refugees have drowned in the Mediterranean so far this year, out of 55,568 arrivals.

"The daily average of arrivals is nearly equivalent to the total numbers for the month of January as recently as two years ago," the IOM said.

This latest tragedy comes just days after 26 asylum seekers when their boat sank off the coast of the Greek island of Samos.

Over a million migrants, many fleeing war, poverty and oppression, arrived in Europe last year, causing a political crisis among EU states.

Last week, a draft European Commission report accused Greece of having "seriously neglected" its obligations to control the external frontier of Europe's passport-free Schengen zone.

The Greek government hit back by accusing the EC of playing "blame games".