Boat with 310 migrants stopped in Turkey on way to Greece

Authorities have stopped a Greece-bound boat carrying 310 migrants while more than 30 have died in a crossing in the past few days.

File image of child wrapped in a survival blanket looks on as migrants and refugees arrive on the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing from Turkey in 2016. Source: NurPhoto/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Turkish authorities say 310 migrants have been stopped from crossing the Aegean Sea to reach Greece.

Turkey's coast guard said the migrants were stopped on Friday afternoon while travelling in a fishing boat south of the Dardanelles in western Turkey.

The coast guard says the passengers included 110 Syrians, 179 Pakistanis and Afghan, Indian, Sri Lankan, Somali and Iranian nationals.

It says seven Turkish and two Belarusian nationals who are thought to be migrant smugglers also were on board.

Meanwhile, more than 30 people have died while attempting the perilous journey to Europe, the IOM said on Saturday.

"Over 2560 #migrants saved in the Mediterranean in the last 4 days. 34 corpses recovered," Flavio Di Giacomo, a spokesman for the UN migration agency, wrote on Twitter.

Twenty-six bodies were recovered after a boat carrying migrants ran into difficulty on Friday, a spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees said, adding that 64 people survived.

"There could still be some missing, but we won't know that until we have spoken with the survivors," the spokesman said.

The European Union's Sophia naval mission spoke of a "tough day" in a post on its official Facebook page. Its vessel was accompanied by a helicopter, which spotted sinking rubber boats on Friday with people falling into the water.

The IOM says more than 2800 people have died attempting to cross the Mediterranean this year.