Boat carrying Kurds deliberately beached - claim

Officials in France believe a boat carrying up to 1,500 Iraqi Kurds was deliberately beached on the Riviera.

They say the Cambodian-registered East Sea left Greece and made a stopover in Turkey before running aground near Boulouris, between Saint-Raphael and Nice.

On board were between 1,000 and 1,500 refugees, including about 300 children aged under 10. A number of babies are believed to have been born aboard the vessel.

The Mayor of Saint-Raphael Georges Ginestat says: "The captain has fled, leaving the boat facing land, the propellers turned so that the boat cannot drift away. It was professional work".

Serge Ortis, head of a civil protection agency in the region, says there appear to be no serious health problems among the refugees.

But he says their general physical condition is deplorable since they were forced to remain standing in the hold of the vessel during the voyage.

Ortis adds that many of the immigrants may also be suffering from malnutrition.

Most people remained inside the vessel after it grounded, but about 100 reached the beach near Boulouris.