Eight Afghan illegal immigrants drown off Greek island
ATHENS, Oct 27 (Reuters) - Eight Afghan illegal immigrants, four of them children, drowned in the Aegean Sea on Tuesday while attempting to reach Greece from Turkey, officials said.
"A total of 19 people fell in the water when their boat crashed on rocks at the island of Lesvos," a Greek coastguard official told Reuters.
Eight corpses of dead women and minors were recovered at sea or washed up on the shore, while one young person was still missing, the official added. Strong winds were blowing in the area.
Dozens of would-be illegal immigrants have lost their lives trying to cross into Greece from Turkey in recent years. The two nations' land and sea border is a key entry point for illegal immigration into the European Union.
About 14,000 migrants arrived by boat in Greece in the first half of 2009, according to EU border agency Frontex, with Lesvos and the nearby island of Samos in the Aegean Sea bearing the brunt.
The EU has long tried in vain to convince Turkey, which aspires to become a member nation, to do more to control an increasing flow of illegal immigrants from its Western coast towards Greece. (Reporting by Harry Papachristou)
