Turkish coast guard seen beating back refugees during dangerous sea crossing

Turkish coast guard seen beating back refugees during dangerous sea crossing –

The journey made by thousands of refugees and migrants daily from the Turkish coast to the nearby Greek islands is a notoriously dangerous one, with more than 440 people drowning en route this year alone.

While the dangers of the Aegean crossing are immense, they are compounded by the fact that no official life saving operation is underway in the international waters, and Turkish authorities have been trying to halt the daily departures.

Now new video from a volunteer group, reportedly taken on Friday, shows members of the Turkish Coast Guard attempting to violently stop one of the boats.

Footage posted to the Facebook page of Team Humanity, a volunteer group that has been working with refugees on the Greek islands, shows the incident.

At the start of the clip, two men, reportedly part of the Turkish Coast Guard, are seen pummeling the small rubber boat packed with refugees and migrants with two long oars. 

Women and children can be heard screaming in the boat as they struggle to pull away from the vessel. 

The incident is said to have happened in Turkish waters as the migrants were on their way to the island of Lesbos.

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Mashable.com