ATHENS -- Three illegal immigrants died and four were missing Wednesday after their inflatable raft sank in the Aegean Sea, the third such incident in Greek waters in the last week, government officials said.

Rescuers recovered the bodies of three men in the waters near Chios island in the eastern Aegean, near the Turkish coast, and took the 14 mainly Pakistani survivors to a hospital, the Merchant Marine Ministry said.

The survivors were in a "critical state", the ministry said.

Rescuers were continuing to search for four other missing passengers, AFP reported.

Among the survivors was a 45-year-old Greek man, who the authorities believe is the smuggler and is expected to be handed over to a local prosecutor.

Rescuers launched the dawn operation after a man called in to report the sinking.

The incident brings to 18 the number of illegal immigrants who have died in Greek waters during the last week.

On Monday, two people, including a four-year-old girl, drowned in a shipwreck only 10 meters (yards) from the coast of the Greek island of Corfu, in the Ionian sea. Some 160 illegal immigrants, mostly Kurds from Turkey, were rescued.

Last Thursday, 13 people drowned and 95 were rescued in the Aegean Sea northwest of Athens when a boat carrying illegal immigrants from Turkey sank.

Greece is a favored transit route for illegal immigrants, particularly from Africa and Asia, hoping to gain entry into economically prosperous Europe.