ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A boat carrying 25 asylum seekers from Syria capsized off the coast of Cyprus on Tuesday morning. Only two people are confirmed to have survived so far, a Kurdish migrants association told Rudaw.
“This morning, a boat carrying 25 asylum seekers capsized in Cyprus waters,” said Peshraw Abdullah, representative of the Returning Refugees Association, adding that the boat set sail from Tartous province on Syria’s west coast and “all of the asylum seekers are Syrian.”
Seven bodies were recovered and two of the passengers were rescued, but the rest remain missing, according to Abdullah. "Among the asylum seekers are six children. The Cyprus coast guards are relentlessly looking for the missing,” he added.
Abdullah additionally explained that the recent turmoil in Syria has left Cypriot authorities on their tiptoes, worried about a potential increase in asylum seekers.
According to Nicosia officials, nearly 30,000 Syrian asylum seekers are currently in Cyprus, many hoping to move on to other European countries.
Loyalists of ousted Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad earlier this month launched an attack on security forces affiliated with the new Syrian leadership in Alawite-majority coastal regions west of Syria.
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that around 1,500 people, mostly Alawite civilians, were killed in the violence, which the watchdog largely attributed to government or government-affiliated forces. The violence then sparked international condemnations.
Additionally, eight people were killed and 14 others injured in a bombing that ripped through a hardware store in a four-story building in Latakia on Saturday. The incident took place as Syrians were marking the 14th anniversary of the start of their uprising against the Assad rule.
While the new Syrian leadership has pledged to uphold the rights of all ethnic and religious groups, it has faced repeated criticism for its treatment of minority groups. This, combined with ongoing security concerns, is expected to continue pushing Syrians to seek asylum abroad.
