Ankara: Six people, among them four children, drowned after a boat carrying illegal immigrants capsized off Turkey’s southwestern coast on its way to a nearby Greek island, Anatolia news agency reported yesterday.

The boat, carrying 19 Afghan nationals and their two Turkish smugglers, capsized late Thursday off the resort of Bodrum due to excess weight amid adverse weather conditions, the agency said.

Earlier reports had said the boat was carrying 18 Palestinians.

Thirteen immigrants were rescued after local residents heard cries from the sea and sailed out in a fishing boat, calling also the security forces.

The coast guard retrieved the bodies of five Afghans — an adult, three children and a baby — as well as one of the Turkish smugglers on board, Anatolia said.

They were still searching for a missing Afghan woman.

The second Turkish smuggler was believed to have swum ashore to safety.

Security forces detained two people in connection to the ill-fated voyage, Anatolia said, but it was not immediately clear whether the second trafficker was among them.

Turkey lies on a major human-smuggling route from Asia to Europe and migrants from Africa and the Middle East are rounded up on a daily basis.

Deadly sea accidents are frequent as traffickers often use unseaworthy vessels. At least 50 people drowned in December 2007 when an overloaded boat capsized in bad weather in the Aegean Sea.