ISTANBUL, Sept. 20 (Xinhua) -- The Turkish coast guard on Friday rescued 14 illegal immigrants and a suspected human trafficker off Turkey's Aegean coast, but one baby went missing, the force said in a statement.

The inflatable boat carrying 15 illegal migrants sank near the Bodrum district in the southwestern province of Mugla, said the statement posted on the website of the coast guard.

As the others were saved, the rescue team was continuing to find the missing baby in the sea, the statement noted, without identifying the nationalities of the illegal migrants and their intended destination.

A day earlier, the coast guard rescued 39 illegal immigrants, whose inflatable boat overturned near the district of Enez in the northwestern province of Edirne.

The Aegean Sea was once the main route for migrants trying to sneak into Europe via Turkey. A deal signed between Turkey and the European Union in March 2016 has curbed the flow of illegal immigration.

Since this year, a total of 33,632 migrants have attempted to reach Greece via Turkey, up from 18,484 over the same period in 2018, according to the latest figures released by the Turkish coast guard.