Refugee boat sinks off French Riviera

The ageing freighter that smuggled 908 refugees into France has sunk off the Riviera, leaving the authorities facing an environmental headache.

Tugboats dragged the Cambodian-registered East Sea off the rocks at Boulouris beach, a few miles from Cannes. But they failed to haul the freighter to a nearby harbour, and it filled with water and sank.

French maritime officials were due to fly over the site today to evaluate the potential for environmental damage, including the possibility of fuel leaks from the vessel.

France was caught off guard yesterday when the freighter carrying mostly Iraqi Kurd refugees, including 300 children, ran aground in the early hours.

Former Interior Minister Charles Pasqua called for the refugees to be immediately repatriated to where they came from. The conservative politican warned: "If we accept them on our territory, we will open the floodgates".

People aboard the East Sea paid between £1,000 and £3,000 for the journey. French Labour Minister Elisabeth Guigou said they left home two months ago, passing through Turkey en route to Europe, and three babies were born during the voyage.

Police and maritime officials are still searching for the captain and crew, who are believed to be Greek, as well as the ship's Syrian owner.

More and more immigrants fleeing impoverished or troubled countries are paying for illegal passage aboard ships bound for Western Europe. Every year, dozens of migrants drown off the coasts of Italy and Spain while trying to cross from the Balkans or northern Africa.

In Italy earlier this month, six badly dehydrated Turkish Kurds were rescued after spending a week in a sealed freight container that had been loaded on to a truck bound for Germany.

The growing smuggling problem was highlighted in June when authorities at the port of Dover in Britain found the bodies of 58 Chinese migrants who had suffocated in the back of an airtight truck during a ferry crossing from Holland.