- By George Wright and Laura Gozzi
- BBC News
June 14, 2023
Updated 1 hour ago
Image source: Hellenic Coast Guard
picture description,
The Hellenic Coast Guard released images of the overcrowded boat before it went under
At least 78 people died and more than 100 were rescued after their fishing boat sank off southern Greece.
However, survivors believe up to 750 people may have been pushed onto the boat, with 100 children reportedly in the hold.
Greece speaks of one of the greatest refugee tragedies of all time and has declared three days of mourning.
Authorities say their offers of help have been turned down but face accusations that they have not done enough to help.
According to the Greek Coast Guard, the boat sank about 80 km (50 miles) southwest of Pylos after 02:04 local time on Wednesday morning local time, bringing the previously confirmed death toll from 79 to 78.
The EU border agency Frontex said it spotted the boat early Tuesday afternoon and immediately informed the Greek and Italian authorities. The Coast Guard later said no one on board was wearing life jackets.
A timeline provided by the Coast Guard said initial contact with the fishing boat was made at 2:00 p.m. (11:00 GMT) and no request for assistance was made.
It said the Greek Maritime Ministry had made repeated contact with the boat and had been told repeatedly that it simply wanted to continue sailing to Italy. A Maltese-flagged vessel provided food and water around 6 p.m. and another boat provided water three hours later, the sources said.
Then, on Wednesday at around 1:40 a.m., someone on the boat reportedly told the Greek Coast Guard that the ship’s engine was defective.
Shortly thereafter, the boat capsized and it only took ten to fifteen minutes to sink completely. A search and rescue operation was launched but was complicated by high winds.
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Watch: Survivors evacuated to safety after boat disaster in Greece
Alarm Phone, an emergency number for migrants in distress at sea, complained that the coastguard “knew for hours that the ship was in distress before help was sent,” adding that authorities “have been informed of this from various sources.” be” that the boat was in distress.
It added that people may have been afraid of encountering the Greek authorities because they were aware of the country’s “horrible and systematic pushback practices”.
Jérôme Tubiana of Médecins Sans Frontières told French radio that both European and Greek authorities should have intervened earlier. “It’s really shocking to hear that Frontex flew over the boat and nobody intervened because the boat refused all offers of help… an overloaded boat is a boat in distress.”
The boat is believed to have been en route from Libya to Italy, with most on board believed to be males in their 20s.
According to local media reports, they had been on the road for days. The boat was hit by a Maltese cargo ship delivering food and water on Tuesday afternoon.
Survivors spoke of between 500 and 750 people on board and regional health director Yiannis Karvelis warned of an unprecedented tragedy: “The number of people on board was much higher than the capacity that should have been foreseen for this boat.”
A survivor told a hospital doctor in Kalamata that he saw 100 children in the hold.
Coast Guard Captain Nikolaos Alexiou told public television that the boat had sunk in one of the deepest spots in the Mediterranean.
The nationalities of the victims have not yet been announced.
Survivors were taken to Kalamata and many were treated in hospital for hypothermia or minor injuries.
The public broadcaster ERT announced that three suspected human traffickers had been taken to the central port authority in Kalamata and interrogated there.
Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou visited some of those rescued and expressed her sympathy for the drowned.
Hundreds of people die trying to cross the Mediterranean every year. In February, a boat carrying migrants capsized near Cutro in the Calabria region of southern Italy, killing at least 94 people in one of the deadliest incidents ever.
Greek Migration Ministry official Yiorgos Michaelidis said Greece has repeatedly called for a “solid” EU migration policy “to take in people who are really in need, and not just the people who have the money to pay the smugglers.” “.
“Right now it’s the smugglers who decide who comes to Europe,” he told the BBC.
“It’s about the EU providing asylum, help and security to those who are really in need. It’s not a problem of Greece, Italy or Cyprus… The EU is the one that needs to come up with a solid migration policy.”
Greece is one of the main routes into the European Union for refugees and migrants from the Middle East, Asia and Africa.
Last month, the Greek government faced international criticism over video footage allegedly showing the forcible eviction of migrants stranded at sea.
According to UN data, more than 70,000 refugees and migrants have arrived in frontline countries in Europe this year, most of them in Italy.
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