15 Syrian children die in freezing weather
ISTANBUL 16 January 2019: Turkish coast guards discovered the body of a four-year-old girl during an operation at dawn Tuesday to rescue migrants aboard a boat in the Aegean Sea.
According to Italy’s news agency, Ansa, over 40 people were aboard the boat, which was bound for the Greek islands.
The vessel was intercepted five miles off the coastal resort of Kusadasi, in south-west Turkey, said Wam.
Operations are underway to search for more migrants who could still be missing, the agency added.
Winter kills 15 Syrian children
AMMAN: At least 15 children have died in Syria over the course of one month due to freezing temperatures and lack of medical care, said the United Nations’ agency for children.
Thirteen of the children were less than a year old.
In a statement, Geert Cappelaere, Unicef Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa, said, “Freezing temperatures and harsh living conditions in Rukban, at the southwestern border of Syria with Jordan, are increasingly putting children’s lives at risk. In just one month, at least eight children – most of them under four months and the youngest only one hour old – have died.”
Extreme cold and the lack of medical care, has exacerbated the already dire conditions for 45,000 individuals in Rukban.
Meanwhile, heavy violence in Deir-Ez-Zor has displaced a further 10,000 people since December 2018, leaving families fleeing the conflict zone with nowhere to go, and days without shelter or basic supplies.
“Without reliable and accessible healthcare, protection and shelter, more children will die day in, day out,” Cappelaere warned.
