Bodies dumped in Istanbul field

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Turkish police have launched an investigation following the discovery of 13 bodies in a field on the outskirts of Istanbul.

The dead are thought to have been illegal immigrants who suffocated while being smuggled in a crowded lorry, officials said.

Most were believed to be Pakistani, media reports said.

Turkey is a major trafficking route for illegal immigrants trying to enter the European Union.

Police are looking for the driver, who fled after dropping off the bodies in the Kucukcekmece area, on the European side of Istanbul.

A local man told the Anatolia news agency that the driver dumped the bodies early in the morning, and abandoned about 130 illegal immigrants also in the truck.

Police have arrested about 50 migrants thought to have been on the lorry, 10 of whom were taken to hospital suffering from severe exhaustion and dehydration, the Hurriyet newspaper reported.