Four adults and at least four children drowned in the eastern Aegean Tuesday when a small boat carrying 18 illegal immigrants from Afghanistan hit rocks and sank, Greek authorities said.
A 19th man, only identified 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 around 8 a.m. (0600 GMT; 2 a.m. EDT), 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.
