A 19th man, identified only as a Turkish national, has been 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 said rescuers have located nine surviving immigrants on the shore and are seeking one child still reported missing. The accident occurred early Tuesday morning when 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 coast guard said the dead were four women and four children, whose ages were not immediately known. The survivors were seven men, a woman and a child.
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. 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.
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.
