ATHENS, Sept 10: The decaying bodies of at least 23 would-be illegal immigrants, thought to be from Pakistan, washed ashore on the banks of the Evros river marking the border between Greece and Turkey after their overloaded boat capsized, Greek officials said on Wednesday.

The 23 corpses of “Asian origin” aged between 25 and 30, including two women, were brought for autopsy to the nearby Alexandroupolis university hospital, its director Panayiotis Sioutis told AFP.

Citing Greek forensic surgeons, Evros region vice-prefect Michalis Kouyioumtzis told AFP the victims were from Pakistan.

They “most probably” drowned four or five days ago, Sioutis said.

The migrants were attempting to cross into Greece across the river when their overladen boat capsized, Kouyioumtzis said. Their boat was not immediately located.

Their bodies apparently sank to the river bottom then rose to the surface after the corpses began bloating, he said.

The first bodies were found late Tuesday by a military patrol on a bank of the river, some 20km before it flows into the Aegean Sea.

Firemen and more troops discovered the remaining bodies early Wednesday.—AFP