Twenty-one migrants and refugees have died after two boats sank in the Aegean Sea on Friday. The boats were transporting the passengers from Turkey to Greece, according to ABC News.

The Merchant Marine Ministry says that 18 people were already dead while 138 people were being rescued to the island of Kalymnos when a boat capsized. When another boat sank, three were killed, six people were rescued and brought to the island of Rhodes, according to the Associated Press.

Hundreds of refugees from the Middle East traverse unsafe waters to Greece and the death toll has reached almost 50 in the past three days, according to Palm Beach Post. 

During the recent wave of migrants in crisis, thousands of refugees have already perished trying to flee from Middle Eastern countries such as Turkey, Syria and Afghanistan. These refugees aim to cross to Europe before winter.

According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the death toll for refugees in 2014 reached 3,281 but the organization thinks this year's number will be higher.

"Local authorities are on the front line in terms of making migration work," promoting narrative of migration's positive impact. - @DGIOM

— IOM (@IOM_news) October 27, 2015

"Last year, from late August through the end of December, over 1,200 migrants died at sea," the organization's new release said, according to CNN. "IOM is concerned that as summer turns to autumn and then winter, additional deaths at sea could well surpass 2,000 through the final third of this year."