ISTANBUL, Aug. 12 (Xinhua) -- The Turkish coast guard rescued at least 202 illegal immigrants in separate incidents off Turkey's western Aegean coast during the last four days, the force announced on its website.
The incidents happened when Greek coast guard teams pushed the boats carrying migrants to several Greek islands on the Aegean Sea back to Turkey, according to the announcements.
Turkish teams retrieved 40 migrants near the Marmaris district of Mugla on Tuesday and 40 others near the Kusadasi resort town in the province of Aydin on Monday.
In two other incidents that happened off the province of Izmir on Sunday, 90 migrants were rescued. Additionally, 32 others were saved off the northwestern province of Canakkale on the same day.
Since the beginning of August, 921 migrants were captured in the Turkish territorial waters, increasing the total figure to 14,141 this year, down from 21,224 over the same period in 2019, the coast guard revealed.
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.
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. Enditem
