60 missing as people smuggling boat sinks

Turkish rescue teams were searching for about 60 illegal immigrants missing in the Mediterranean today after their boat sank.

The ship, carrying migrants from Jordan, Iraq and Afghanistan, left from the Turkish Mediterranean resort of Marmaris late yesterday and was headed to the Greek island of Rhodes when it sank, local governor Huseyin Aksoy said.

Only one survivor had been found. Rescuers picked 13 life jackets from the water and some debris.

The boat is believed to have sunk about 10 miles off Marmaris, the Anatolia news agency reported. The cause was not immediately known.

Turkish officials learned about the shipwreck after a Turkish ship found an Iraqi immigrant floating on a piece of wood late yesterday, Anatolia said. He was being treated at a local hospital.

Each year, thousands of migrants from the Middle East, Asia and Africa pass through Turkey on their way to Western European countries, in particular European Union countries such as Greece.

Britain and other European Union countries are pushing Turkey, which has long and porous borders, to crack down on illegal immigration.