01/07/2010 (Agence Europe) - Sixteen illegal immigrants drowned seeking to swim across the Evros, a river separating Greece and Turkey, the Greek police announced on Wednesday 30 June. The victims, from Africa and Asia, belonged to a smaller group that crossed the river on 25 June. Turkish smugglers made the children cross the water in a boat but told the adults to swim across. Some were carried off by the current and drowned. Three others are reported missing. Nearly nine illegal migrants out of ten choose Greece as their point of entry into the European Union, and 6,600 illegal arrivals were noted during the first quarter of 2010, the European agency, Frontex, states. (B.C./transl.jl)