57 migrants rescued off Greece

Greek rescuers said yesterday they had located 57 illegal immigrants lost at sea after their wooden boat sank off the southern tip of Greece.

The boat carrying the migrants, mostly from Afghanistan, sank in bad weather off the coast of the southern Peloponnese early yesterday, authorities said.

"According to initial evidence we do not seem to have any missing persons at this moment," Merchant Marine Ministry spokesman Andreas Theofilou said.

Coastguard vessels and a helicopter searched the area after the boat sank off the island of Kithira and some of the people were washed up alive on the nearby island of Antikithira.

The first survivors told authorities there were another 40 migrants on the boat.

Despite strong winds and rain in the area, rescuers managed to locate those missing and were transporting them to safety.

The two islands are a few miles off the southern tip of the the Peloponnese peninsula.

Thousands of illegal immigrants mostly from Asia, attempt every year to cross into Greece, a European Union member, using boats from the western Turkish coastline.