Turkey rescues 72 illegal migrants off Aegean coast

The Turkish coast guard on Monday rescued a total of 72 illegal immigrants off Turkey's Aegean coast, the coast guard announced on its website.

Turkish teams rescued the migrants with different nationalities near the Foca district of Turkey's western province of Izmir, the force said.

The incident happened when the Greek coast guard teams pushed four small inflatable boats carrying migrants back to Turkey, according to the statement.

Since this year, a total of 9,560 migrants attempted to reach Greece via Turkey's seas, up from 8,737 over the same period in 2019, according to the latest figures released by the Turkish coast guard.

The Aegean Sea was once the main route for migrants trying to reach Europe via Turkey. A deal was signed between Turkey and the European Union in March 2016 to curb the flow of illegal immigration.

Hosting over 3.7 million Syrian refugees in its territory, Turkey earlier announced that it could no longer cope with the issue alone, and urged European countries to take more responsibility.