Migrants wait to take shortest route

Suddenly, almost silently, a group of young men carrying a small plastic dinghy emerges from the darkness, dashes across a road and a dirty strip of sand and plunges into the crystal-clear waters of the Aegean Sea.

With the lights of the Greek island of Kos twinkling through the darkness - beacons of hope for a new and better life - another group of migrants has set off to make a risky, but less risky than most, sea crossing and apply for asylum in Europe.

The city of Bodrum, a magnet for wealthy tourists from Turkey and around the world, is drawing plenty of other visitors these days. Migrants fleeing conflicts in the Middle East and Africa are seeking a better life in Europe, a continent very near to Bodrum peninsula's many beaches. At its closest point, Kos is only 4 kilometers from Turkey.