Rescuers continued to search for a shipwreck that killed at least 78 migrants off the coast of southern Greece on Thursday, but as hopes of survival dwindled, fears grew that hundreds of people, including dozens of children, could have drowned in the overcrowded vessel’s hold. , which would make it one of the biggest tragedies of its kind in Europe, reports News.ro with reference to the BBC and AFP.

Between 400 and 750 people were reported to have been on board the fishing vessel that left the Libyan port of Tobruk and capsized and sank early Wednesday morning in deep waters about 80 km from the town of Pylos, located on the southern coast of Greece.

At least 78 people have already been confirmed dead as a result of the disaster, and Greek authorities said 104 survivors had been brought ashore. The rest of the people on board – probably several hundred people – are missing, and survivors say there were up to 100 children on board.

Two patrol ships, a navy frigate, three helicopters and nine other ships continued to inspect the waters west of the coast of the Peloponnese, one of the deepest areas of the Mediterranean.

At least 11 people were arrested, including several Egyptians, on suspicion of human trafficking, Greek television reported.

The Coast Guard has been criticized for not intervening sooner, but authorities say their offers of help have been rebuffed. The boat was on its way to Italy when it sank.

Images showed decks full of people, but reports of large numbers of women and children in the ship’s hold came from doctors who treated mostly male survivors. The head doctor of Kalamata General Hospital told the BBC that there were up to 100 children on the ship. “[Supravieţuitorii] they told us there were children in the ship’s hold. Children and women,” said Dr. Manolis Makaris, head of the cardiology department. He said two patients gave him estimates. “, he added.

All 104 rescued men. Most of the survivors were Syrians (47), Egyptians (43), as well as 12 Pakistanis and two Palestinians, according to the Greek authorities.

Dr Makaris said he believed up to 600 people could have died in the disaster. “The total number of people on the ship was 750 people. That’s the number everyone told me,” he said.

Families of missing Egyptian children sent him photos, hoping he would recognize them after treatment.

Greek government spokesman Ilias Siakantaris said it was not known how many people were in the hold: “But we know that several smugglers are locking people in to maintain control,” he said.

The families of some of the missing persons arrived in Kalamata in search of their loved ones. “My relatives were on the boat,” said Aftab, who had traveled from Britain and said at least four of his relatives in Pakistan were missing. “We got confirmation. We found one of the relatives. But we still haven’t found the others,” he told the BBC.

Controversy: why did the ship capsize?

Activist Nawal Sufi was the first to raise the alarm after being contacted by people on a boat on Tuesday morning.

The coast guard said the first contact with the fishing vessel was on Tuesday at 14:00 local (and Romanian) time, and says there was no request for help. Greece’s maritime ministry says it has been in repeated contact with the vessel and was told it simply wanted to sail to Italy.

During the evening, two merchant ships supplied her with water. In a Facebook post, Nawal Sufi said the situation became “difficult” when the ship approached the vessel and tied ropes to it, throwing water bottles overboard. She said some of the people on board felt “extremely unsafe” because of fears that the rope could cause the boat to capsize and that fights on board over water could have caused it to capsize.

Then the ship left.

The Coast Guard said the boat’s engine broke early Wednesday and the people on board began to move, causing the vessel to capsize.

Alarm Phone, an emergency hotline for migrants in distress at sea, complained that the coastguard “knew the vessel was in distress hours before any help was sent”, adding that authorities “were informed from various sources” that the boat was at sea. difficulty.

However, coastguard spokesman Nikos Alexiou said they were trying to convince the vessel to get help and “stayed if necessary to save people”.

Chronology of events (time in GMT):

• 08:00 Greek coast guard says it was alerted by Italian authorities about migrant boat
• 11:00 a.m. Coastguard says they are in contact with boat – it is not asking for help
• 12:17-15:34 More calls for help from the boat, according to the charitable organization “Telephone of alarm”
• 15:00 First merchant ship delivers food and water
• 19:40-22:40 A Greek coast guard ship sailed near the migrant boat, observing it from afar and not finding any navigation problems
• 22:40 An engine failure was reported
• 23:04 A boat with migrants overturns and sinks
• 04:00 Ships assist in rescue operations

Former Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras visited Kalamata on Thursday and spoke to survivors about what they believe went wrong.

“The Greek coast guard asked the vessel to follow them, but they could not,” explained the translator. “The coast guard then threw a rope, but because they did not know how to pull the rope, the vessel started swaying left and right,” he said. “The coast guard ship was going too fast, but the ship was already hanging to the left and that’s how it sank,” Tsipras learned.

Three days of mourning were announced in Greece. Campaigning for parliamentary elections on June 25 was suspended, and TV debates scheduled for Thursday were canceled.

Greece’s Supreme Court ordered an investigation to determine the causes of the tragedy that shocked Greece, which has been accused by NGOs and the international press for years of turning away migrants seeking asylum in the EU.

The country is one of the main entry routes to the European Union for refugees and migrants from the Middle East, Asia and Africa.

Last month, the Greek government came under international criticism for a video that allegedly showed the forced removal of migrants left adrift at sea. (News.ro)