Four illegal immigrants were killed yesterday when they strayed into a minefield in Evros, northeastern Greece, as they tried to make their way into the country from Turkey.

Residents of the village of Kastanea heard explosions in the early hours of the morning and when soldiers arrived at they minefield they found the four bodies. The army said that two of the men were carrying papers that suggested they were from Georgia. The nationality of the other two was not immediately known.

The minefield was fenced and clearly signposted, according army officials, who said that the four migrants probably failed to notice the warnings in the dark.

According to the Geneva-based International Campaign to Ban Land Mines, at least 82 migrants have died and 71 been injured in the area since 1994. Greece has pledged to remove all the land mines in the area by 2011.