A freighter carrying about 1,000 Kurdish migrants, including hundreds of children,ran aground off the French Riviera early this morning.
No-one was injured although many of the Kurds, thought to be from Iraq and Turkey, were dehydrated and living in extremely cramped conditions aboard the Cambodian-registered vessel.
Police claimed'human cargo' smugglers ran the freighteraground to evade capture.
The ship hit rocks near the harbour of Boulouris, midway between the Cote d'Azur resorts of Cannes and St Tropez.
The boat had up to 300 children aboard, including three babies born during the voyage.
The weather was good at the time of the incident and police said the boat had been driven ashore on purpose at around 3:30 a.m. its engines left running to stop it heading back out to sea.
The freighter's captain and crew, reported to be Greek, were said to have fled the vessel before rescuers arrived.Police launched a manhunt while investigators said they believed the shipowner might be Syrian. Canepa vowed to bring all those behind the trafficking to justice.
The alarm was raised before dawn when up to 30 Kurds swam ashore and woke up the resident of a seaside villa."Help! United Nations", one of their number said, pointing at the boat.
Concerned at the rising tide of illegal immigrants and human trafficking, EU ministers agreed earlier this month to step up the pace of harmonising their asylum and immigration policies.