Migrant boat sinks off Greek coast

Three adults and five children drowned in the eastern Aegean Sea on Tuesday when a small boat carrying 17 illegal immigrants from Afghanistan hit rocks near the shore and sank, Greek authorities said.

An 18th survivor, only identified as a Turkish man, was arrested on suspicion of belonging to a smuggling gang that ferried the migrants from the nearby coast of Turkey to the Greek island of Lesvos.

A coast guard statement issued on Tuesday said rescuers have located nine surviving immigrants on the shore.

The sinking occurred around 8 a.m. local time, after the small vessel smashed into rocks in the Korakas area off the northeastern coast of Lesvos, the coast guard said.

Six bodies were initially found in the sea and on the rocks, and two more were located in the sea after a search involving a rescue helicopter and coast guard patrol boats.

The survivors were seven men, a woman and a child.

Located only eight kilometres from Turkey's western shore, Lesvos is one of the main points of arrival for the thousands of illegal immigrants who enter Greece every year hoping for a better life in the European Union.

Some 5,500 people were detained on the island in the first eight months of this year, compared with more than 13,000 in 2008.

Also Tuesday, the Greek coast guard found 45 illegal immigrants abandoned on an uninhabited islet off the island of Anafi in the southeastern Aegean and were transferring them to the nearby island of Santorini.

Often fleeing war zones in Asia and Africa, the migrants pay thousands of dollars to smuggling gangs for their long and perilous journey to the West.

Accidents involving rickety boats heading for Aegean Sea islands are frequent. Migrants trying to enter Greece by land from Turkey are confronted by border minefields that have claimed at least 82 lives since 1994.