Eight bodies on north beach probably drowned Syrian migrants

 

A total of eight bodies have been found washed up on the shores of northern Cyprus over the past two days, Turkish Cypriot police said on Monday, adding the dead were believed to be Syrian migrants.

The bodies were found off Karpasia peninsula, an official at the Rizokarpaso police station said. The boat may have sunk on Saturday night, the official said. Two bodies were found on Sunday and six on Monday, he said.

“It saddens us to see desperate people, who are separated from their homes, countries perishing in Mediterranean. The bodies that reached to our shore reminds us how peace and stability is necessary in our region,” Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci said on Twitter.

The two bodies that were washed up on Sunday, according to the Turkish Cypriot newspapers, belong to two men aged 30 and 50, while the bodies found Monday were those of two young men aged around 24-30.

Post-mortems are due to be carried out on Monday. One of the bodies found on Sunday was carrying a wallet, a cell phone, $100, two ID cards and two passports.

More than a million people entered the EU in 2015, mostly fleeing war in the Middle East and Africa, marking the biggest influx of refugees and migrants in Europe since World War Two.

Since then, the main Eastern Mediterranean route between Turkey and Greece has been largely shut by a deal between the EU and Ankara.

 

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.