18 dead in presumed migrant accident

THESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — Eighteen bodies have been found in a coastal area near the borders of Turkey and Greece, and they appear to be illegal immigrants who died in a boat accident, authorities said Tuesday.
Eight of the bodies — seven men and one boy — were found over several days beginning Thursday in Greece near the border city of Alexandroupolis. Two of those bodies were found tangled in nets by local fishermen. The others were recovered on an abandoned coastline or in the sea, police and coast guard officials said. One of the victims was carrying Iraqi identity papers.

In Turkey, 10 bodies have washed ashore at the Saros Bay near the border area over the past three days, said Adnan Cakiroglu, local governor of the Turkish town of Gelibolu. They included eight adult men, one women and one child.

Cakiroglu said at least five of the victims found in Turkey had been identified as Iraqis.

The bodies were discovered in a 25-mile area. Authorities in both countries said they believed the dead came from a single vessel.

"It's unusual for people to try and reach this region by boat," Michalis Kouyioumtzis, deputy regional governor of Greece's Evros border region, told The Associated Press. He said he believed the illegal immigrants were caught in sudden bad weather and probably traveled in a vessel that was barely seaworthy.

"When people without any conscience pack (immigrants) into small boats, this is the result you get," Kouyioumtzis said.

The discovery of the Iraqi identity papers prompted authorities to speculate that the victims were illegal immigrants who drowned after their boat sank. Many Iraqis have fled the war in their country, which borders Turkey.

No wreckage of a boat has been found, but a state coroner in Greece who examined the bodies said they had drowned.

Greece is a busy transit point for illegal immigrants seeking entry into the European Union, with many risking their lives to make the trip.

Last month, four Georgian illegal immigrants were killed after entering a minefield on Greece's militarized border with Turkey.

Migrants typically head by boat from Turkey's coast to nearby Greek islands or cross the Evros River that runs along most of the Greek-Turkish border.

On Tuesday, Greece's merchant marine ministry said 10,659 illegal immigrants had been detained by the coast guard and 173 smuggling suspects had been arrested in the first nine months of 2008.

Eight illegal immigrants were arrested Tuesday on the Aegean Sea island of Lesvos, and said they had paddled from the nearby Turkish coast in three small dinghies

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