U.N. says 11,000 Syrians flee in past 24 hours
By The Associated Press
This article was originally published November 9, 2012 at 8:00 a.m. Updated November 9, 2012 at 9:36 a.m.
GENEVA — At least 11,000 Syrian refugees have fled their country in single day, pouring into Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon with children and dozens of wounded, U.N. officials said Friday.
Some climbed over razor-wire border fences to seek safety.
Most of the surge in refugees was due to the 9,000 fleeing into Turkey, including more than 70 who were wounded, U.N. officials said.
Jordan and Lebanon each absorbed another 1,000 refugees.
Panos Moumtzis, the U.N. refugee agency’s regional coordinator for the region, described the flood of people as “the highest that we have had in quite some time.”
He said the escalation — much more than the average 2,000 to 3,000 Syrians fleeing daily — raises the number of Syrian refugees registered with the agency to more than 408,000.
The new arrivals raise the number of refugees in Turkey to about 120,000.
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