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Baby drowns as boat sinks
06/06/2006 12:09 - (SA)
Athens - A baby sailing with a group of 22 illegal immigrants trying to reach the Greek coast drowned early on Tuesday after their boat sank off the island of Samos, according to the merchant marine ministry.
The immigrants, who identified themselves as Somali, had sailed from the Turkish coast facing the Greek island.
They were picked up by a Dutch ferry, identified by the ministry as the Noordam, and would be returned to the Turkish port of Kusadasi under an agreement between the ship's captain and the Greek authorities.
The baby, whose sex and age were not immediately clear, was recovered after a major search operation including a Super Puma helicopter, three coastguard vessels and a military boat.
Greece faced frequent arrivals of illegal immigrants, especially on its outlying islands, from neighbouring Turkey.
The ministry said that in a separate incident, a Greek coast guard vessel on Tuesday intercepted another group of 11 would-be migrants, and two suspected smugglers, on board a boat off the Greek island of Lesvos.
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