As many as 33 refugees died on Monday when two boats carrying them capsised off Turkey's Aegean coast, reported The Guardian. While 22 people drowned after their boat sank in the Bay of Edremit, near the Greek island of Lesbos, a local news agency reported that bodies of 11 people were found after another boat carrying refugees sank near the Aegean resort of Dikili.

On the same day, German Chancellor Angela Merkel met Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu to discuss ways to stem the flow of refugees bound for Europe, reported Al Jazeera. The European Union wants Turkey to open its borders to the 35,000 Syrians who have arrived along the frontier in the past few days. Though the Turkish government has said that it it has reached its capacity to absorb refugees, it indicated that the country will continue to provide shelter to the people fleeing an onslaught by government forces in their respective countries. Turkey has already taken in 2.5 million Syrian refugees.