15 Iraqis drowned in the Aegean
Iraq, Local, 7/15/1997

Turkish Navy and Coast Guard ships searched on July 11 for any survivors from a boat that sunk in the Aegean Sea earlier this week, killing at least 14 Iraqi illegal immigrants being smuggled to Greece.

"This morning three more bodies were found drowned in the sea," a Coast Guard official in the western port city of Izifir said. Twenty people, including women and children, were still missing, he said.

The 10 meter boat capsized and sunk on the night of July 9, 15 minutes after
leaving a peninsula of the Turkish shore near the resort town of Cesme.

It was heading for the nearby Greek island of Chios with an illegal cargo of 40 Iraqis who had paid around 1,000 US dollars each for the short passage.

Iraqis, mainly Kurds, often flee economic hardships and factional strife in northern Iraq for Europe via Turkey. Flimsy boats carry them to Greek islands.

Six people were rescued and taken to local hospitals on July 10. Two men, one Turkish, the other Iraqi, have been arrested in connection with case.

"Coast guard and navy vessels as well as civilian boats are still searching the area," the coast guard officials said.

Fourteen people drowned and up to 25 others were missing, feared dead, when an overloaded boat smuggling illegal Iraqi refugees from Turkey to Greece sank in the Aegean Sea, Anatolia news agency said on July 10.

The Turkish coast guard rescued six Iraqis and recovered the bodies of 10 others, including eight women and two children, after the boat carrying up to 40 people sank between the Turkish coast and the Greek island of Chios it said.

The boat with mainly women and children abroad sailed from Turkey's Aegean port of Karaburum, 300 kilometers southwest of Istanbul, on July 9 but overturned and sank shortly afterwards.

The six survivors were all men, and authorities said they feared the rest were dead.

But a Turkish rescue helicopter, coast guard vessels and fishing boats were searching for survivors off the Turkish port of Cesme, near Karaburum.

"It is a horrible situation. Survivors stayed in the sea for more than 15 hours and now in the hospital," one coast guard official told the agency.

More than 100 Iraqis, mostly from the mainly Kurdish-populated North of the country, have illegally crossed from Turkey to Greek Islands in the Aegean sea since the beginning of this year.

Fleeing Economic and political hardship at home, the Iraqis seek asylum from Greece or Western European countries.

In a similar incident in May, another 15 Iraqis drowned in the Aegean when their boat overturned and sank while heading for Greece. One person swam to safety.

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