Turkish coastguard evacuates migrants stranded on Aegean Sea rocks

Turkey’s coastguard has launched a rescue operation to evacuate migrants stranded on rocks in the Aegean Sea, AP reports. At least 68 migrants, from the western Turkish province of Izmir, were attempting to illegally cross to Greece in a rubber dinghy, and authorities intervened after receiving an emergency call, Anadolu has reported. Two helicopters and a boat were involved in the operation. A helicopter was seen on a video winching a person off the rocks. The migrants’ nationalities are unknown. More than 3.3 million Syrians live in Turkey and, in 2015, more than 857,000 migrants reached Greece from there.