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Athens (ANTARA News / Reuters) - Greek and Turkish authorities found the bodies of 16 people who drowned in a river last week when trying to get to the European Union, Greek police said on Wednesday.

Victims, all African and Asian descent, were part of a larger group that crossed the Evros river on June 25.

Turkish smugglers to transport the children to the vessels but asked the adults to cross the river to swim.

"Some of them were swept away and drowned," police said in a statement.

Nearly nine out of 10 illegal immigrants use Greece as a transit country towards the European Union. A total of 6600 illegal border crossings were detected in the country in the first quarter of 2010, according to the EU border agency Frontex.

Greek-Turkish border on the Evros is a gate that is often used. The European Union has long tried to convince the Turks, who want to become members of the congregation, to do more to oversee the point of departure from the Western border to Greece.