Greece Launches Extensive Search for Missing Migrants as Death Toll Reaches 78

In southern Greece, rescue workers tirelessly continued their efforts to locate possible survivors after a tragic maritime incident, while transferring the deceased migrants’ bodies to refrigerated trucks. The incident involved a migrant boat packed with individuals attempting to journey from Libya to Italy, which ultimately capsized and sank in deep waters off the Greek coast. The scale of the catastrophe has left hundreds of people still unaccounted for.

So far, 78 bodies have been recovered, and the search and rescue teams managed to save 104 passengers, including Egyptians, Syrians, Pakistanis, Afghans, and Palestinians. Among them were eight minors, primarily men. However, authorities express deep concerns that hundreds more may have been trapped below deck. If this is confirmed, the incident would rank among the most devastating tragedies ever recorded in the central Mediterranean.

Following an overnight count of the bodies, authorities revised the confirmed death toll from 79. Erasmia Roumana, head of a delegation from the United Nations Refugee Agency, met with the rescued migrants in a storage hangar in the southern port of Kalamata and stated, “The survivors are in a very difficult situation. Right now, they are in shock.” The survivors are eager to reassure their families of their well-being and continuously inquire about those still missing, many of whom are friends and relatives.

In response to the disaster, Greece has declared three days of mourning, and political campaigning for an upcoming general election on June 25 has been temporarily suspended. A Supreme Court prosecutor has also initiated an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the deaths.

Expressing her deep sorrow, Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the European Commission, vowed to enhance cooperation between the European Union and neighboring countries to combat migrant smugglers. Nonetheless, human rights organizations argue that such crackdowns compel migrants and refugees to embark on longer and riskier routes to reach safe havens.

During the search operation off Greece’s Peloponnese region, which took place overnight and into Thursday morning, no additional bodies or survivors were found. Admiral Nikos Spanos, a retired Greek coast guard official, remarked, “The chances of finding more survivors are minimal. We have encountered similar old fishing boats from Libya before: they measure around 30 meters (100 feet) in length and can carry 600-700 people when crammed. However, they are far from seaworthy. To put it simply, they are floating coffins.”

Coast guard experts speculate that the boat may have sunk due to fuel depletion or engine failure, exacerbated by the movement of passengers inside the vessel, causing it to tilt and ultimately capsize.

Aerial photographs released by Greek authorities before the incident depicted people densely crowded on the boat’s deck, with the majority not wearing life jackets.

Gianluca Rocco, the head of the Greek section of the UN migration agency IOM, lamented, “We are witnessing one of the biggest tragedies in the Mediterranean, and the numbers announced by the authorities are devastating.” Since 2014, the IOM has recorded over 21,000 deaths and disappearances in the central Mediterranean.

According to Greece’s coast guard, Italian authorities alerted them to the presence of the trawler in international waters. Their attempts, as well as those of merchant vessels, to assist the boat were persistently declined by the individuals on board, as they insisted on continuing their journey to Italy.

Among the survivors in southern Greece, 29 remain hospitalized, mostly due to symptoms of hypothermia, while eight have undergone questioning by coast guard investigators. Government officials have announced that the survivors will be relocated to a migrant shelter near Athens later on Thursday or Friday.

The bodies of the deceased migrants have been transported to a morgue outside Athens, where DNA samples and facial photographs will be collected to initiate the identification process. Health officials have confirmed that the embassies of the countries involved will provide assistance.

The incident occurred close to the deepest part of the Mediterranean Sea, where depths of up to 17,000 feet (5,200 meters) pose challenges for locating a sunken vessel.

According to initial reports, the IOM suggests that up to 400 people may have been on board the boat. However, a network of activists claims to have received a distress call from another boat in the same area, whose passengers stated that it carried 750 individuals.

The Mediterranean’s most catastrophic shipwreck in recent memory transpired on April 18, 2015, when an overcrowded fishing boat carrying migrants collided with a freighter off the Libyan coast. Only 28 people survived, while forensic experts determined that the original passenger count was approximately 1,100.

Reporting from Athens, Greece, contributed by Paphitis. Renata Brito, a writer from Big Big News in Barcelona, Spain, also contributed to this report.

For more news on global migration, visit https://bigbignews.net/migration.

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