ISTANBUL — Eight people drowned after a boat carrying around 15 migrants sank off the coast of Turkey, the interior ministry said on Friday.

The incident happened on Wednesday night in the Aegean Sea, around eight kilometers from the town of Fethiye in southwest Turkey, it said in a statement.

The bodies of five men and three women were found by coastguards. Their nationalities were not immediately known.

Turkey hosts some four million refugees, mostly from Syria, and is an important transit point for migrants trying to reach Europe.

The number of crossings has greatly diminished after Turkey vowed to stop unauthorized boats under a 2016 agreement with the European Union. — AFP