Migrant family crossing to Greece stranded on island

By Salih Baran

EDIRNE, Turkey (AA) - A migrant family trying to cross to Greece from Edirne, a northwestern Turkish border province, has been stranded on an island in the middle of Meric River.

Hundreds of irregular migrants hoping to cross to Europe from Turkey are trying sea vessels and land vehicles in order to make the trip.

In one of the border villages on Friday, scores of irregular migrants swam or took boats in order to cross to Greece.

One of these families' boat deflated in the middle of the river.

The family of nine, including small children, climbed to an island, hoping to inflate the boat again.

In the meantime, security forces in Greece fire guns and use sound bombs to prevent the refugees from entering Greece.

Late Thursday, at least 33 Turkish soldiers were martyred and dozens of others injured in an airstrike by Bashar al-Assad regime forces in Idlib, a de-escalation zone in northwestern Syria, just across Turkey’s southern border.

Turkish officials announced Friday that they would no longer try to stop irregular migrants from reaching Europe.

Following it, thousands of irregular migrants flocked to Edirne to make their way to Europe.

Turkey already hosts some 3.7 million migrants from Syria alone, more than any other country.

It has complained that Europe has failed to keep promises to help migrants and stem further migrant waves.

* Writing by Firdevs Bulut