Five people were drowned when a boat carrying illegal migrants sank off the coast of Turkey's eastern Aegean province of Izmir, the semi-official Anatolia news agency reported on Tuesday.

Rescue teams have found five bodies at the sea, while 35 immigrants were rescued, officials were quoted as saying.

The illegal migrants were planning to land Greek coasts.

Meanwhile, Turkish gendarmerie and border patrol squads arrested 208 illegal migrants in the northwestern province of Edirne in the past two days, according to Anatolia.

Turkey has often been used as a springboard by illegal immigrants from the Mideast and Asian countries to go to Europe. Many of them take the risk of traveling on dangerous boats, which easily capsize in the tough sea journey.

More than 500,000 illegal migrants have been captured in Turkey over the last 10 years, it was reported.

(Xinhua News Agency September 27, 2006)