Global Courant
A fishing vessel en route from eastern Libya to Italy capsized and sank off the coast of Greece on June 14, 2023. At least 78 people died in the accident and dozens more are still missing. Authorities also say they have rescued 104 people so far. More than 10 boats, including 6 ships from the Greek Coast Guard, are currently searching for the sunken boat.
A fishing boat carrying migrants capsized and sank off the coast of Greece on Wednesday, authorities said, killing at least 78 people and fearing many dozens missing in one of the worst disasters of its kind this year.
Coast Guard, Navy and merchant ships fanned out for an extensive search and rescue operation that also involved an airplane and a helicopter.
Authorities said 104 people have so far been rescued after the boat sank overnight in international waters some 70 kilometers southwest of Greece’s southern Peloponnese peninsula. The place is close to one of the deepest parts of the Mediterranean Sea.
It was unclear how many passengers are still in the water or trapped in the sunken ship, but some initial reports suggested there may have been hundreds of people on board.
Four survivors were hospitalized with symptoms of hypothermia. In the southern port of Kalamata, dozens of others were taken to sheltered areas set up by ambulance services and the United Nations Refugee Agency to receive dry clothes and medical attention.
ELECTIONS IN GREECE: ECONOMY, MIGRATION, SCANDALS RISE BIG AHEAD OF CORE VOTE
The Greek coastguard said 78 bodies have been recovered so far.
The boat bound for Italy is said to have departed from the Tobruk area in eastern Libya. That country plunged into chaos after a NATO-backed uprising in 2011 that toppled and killed longtime autocrat Moammar Gadhafi. Traffickers have taken advantage of the resulting instability and made Libya one of the main points of departure for people trying to reach Europe on smugglers’ boats.
The Italian coastguard first alerted Greek authorities and the European Union’s border control agency, Frontex, about the approaching ship on Tuesday.
The United Nations migration agency, IOM, said initial reports suggested up to 400 people were on board. A network of activists said it received a distress call from a boat in the same area whose passengers said there were 750 people on board – but it was not clear if that was the ship that sank.
After that initial warning, Frontex planes and two merchant ships saw the boat heading north at high speed, the Greek Coast Guard said. More planes and ships were sent to the area.
Survivors of a capsized migrant fishing vessel arrive by yacht after a rescue operation at the port of the town of Kalamata, about 150 miles southwest of Athens, Greece, on June 14, 2023. (www.argolikeseidhseis.gr via AP)
But repeated calls to the ship for assistance were denied, the Coast Guard said in a statement.
GREECE ALLOWS PETS AT OVER 120 ARCHEOLOGY SITES
“In the afternoon, a merchant ship approached the ship and supplied it with food and supplies, while the (passengers) refused further assistance,” it said. A second merchant ship approaching it later offered further supplies and aid, which were turned down, it added.
In the evening, a Coast Guard patrol boat reached the ship “and confirmed the presence of a large number of migrants on deck,” the statement said. “But they refused all help and said they wanted to go to Italy.”
The Coast Guard boat accompanied the migrant ship, which capsized and sank early Wednesday, according to the statement, prompting a massive rescue operation by all vessels in the area.
Alarm Phone, a network of activists that provides a hotline for migrants in trouble, meanwhile said people on a boat in distress had been contacted Tuesday afternoon. That boat was in the same general area as the one that sank, but it wasn’t clear if it was the same ship.
The organization informed the Greek authorities and Frontex. In a communication with Alarm Phone, migrants reported that the ship was overcrowded and that the captain had left the ship on a small boat, the group said. They asked for food and water, which was provided by a merchant ship.
Having bigger boats, Mediterranean smugglers are increasingly trying to stay in international waters as they pass through Greece to evade Coast Guard patrols.
On Sunday, 90 migrants on a US-flagged yacht were rescued in the area after making a distress call.
Global Courant
Six ships of the Hellenic Coast Guard, a naval frigate, a military transport aircraft, an air force helicopter, several private vessels and a Frontex drone are currently taking part in the search for the boat that sank on Wednesday.
Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou headed to the area where rescued migrants are being cared for and planned campaign events by political parties ahead of the June 25 national elections were called off.
Separately on Wednesday, a yacht with 81 migrants on board was towed to a port
