The massive search and rescue operation off the Greek peninsula Peloponnese has been going on since the morning hours on Wednesday. Two patrol boats, six other ships and a helicopter have taken part in the search. But the hope of finding more survivors has dwindled. Tonight, Greek authorities say they no longer expect to find anyone alive. 104 people have been rescued from the sea, 78 have been found dead. No one knows how many are missing. Survivors who have been questioned by Greek police say that 750 people were on board the overcrowded fishing boat, which was on its way from Libya to Italy. With so many on board, the boat was barely seaworthy, retired admiral Nikos Spanos tells the Greek broadcaster ERT. – We have seen old fishing boats like this from Libya before. They are around 30 meters long and can accommodate 600-700 people when fully packed. But they are not seaworthy. They are floating coffins, to put it bluntly, says Spanos. Tightly packed Pictures released by the Greek coast guard show people sitting close together on the deck of the fishing boat, which was between 20 and 30 meters long. – 750 is the number that many repeat, says doctor Manolis Makaris to the BBC. He works at the Kalamata hospital in the port city of the same name and has treated several of the survivors. The Greek coastguard has been informed of similar figures. This means that over 500 people may have died. Those found, either alive or drowned, are all men. – They say that the children were at the bottom of the ship. Children and women. One told me it was around 100, another estimated around 50, says Makaris to the BBC. – I don’t know which is correct, but there are many. The people on board are said to have come from Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Afghanistan and Pakistan. The boat barely seaworthy According to the Greek broadcaster ERT, nine people have been arrested by the police, including the captain of the boat. All must be Egyptian citizens. They are suspected of belonging to a smuggling gang that arranged the crossing. The fishing boat must have been empty when it left Egypt. In the Lebanese port city of Tobruk, the crew picked up the many hundreds of migrants and headed for Italy. On the night of Wednesday, around 01:30, the boat had problems with the engine. One theory is that they ran out of fuel. The boat is said to have then capsized and sunk within 15 minutes. It was then in international waters, around 75 kilometers southwest of the Peloponnese peninsula. A casualty from the boat wreck off the coast of Greece is carried ashore in Kalamata. Photo: STELIOS MISINAS / Reuters Spokesman for the Greek government, Ilias Siakantaris, tells ERT that it is not unusual for people smugglers to lock people up below deck. The tragedy occurred in one of the deepest areas of the Mediterranean. This means that it will be difficult to retrieve the boat, which can lie as deep as 5,000 meters below the surface. The survivors will be transported from Kalamata to a refugee camp in Athens. Between 20 and 30 people continue to receive treatment in hospital. Many of them were very chilled when they were picked up from the water. The survivors are temporarily housed in a warehouse at the port of Kalamata. During the next few days, they will move on to a refugee camp outside the capital, Athens. Photo: Angelos Tzortzinis / AP Said to have refused help There are disagreements between aid organizations and the Greek authorities about whether what happened before and after the tragedy was a fact. According to the authorities, those who steered the overcrowded fishing boat refused the offer of help, both from the coast guard and from merchant ships in the area. The skipper is said to have replied that they wanted to continue to Italy. The organization Alarm Phone runs an emergency line for migrants in distress at sea. They were in contact with some of the migrants several times during Tuesday and raised the alarm to the coast guard. – Greek and other European authorities were thus aware that this was an overcrowded and unseaworthy vessel. A rescue operation was not initiated, writes Alarm Phone in a press release. National mourning has been declared in Greece after the boat tragedy, and the flag flies at half-mast on the Acropolis in Athens. Photo: Petros Giannakouris / AP Alarm Phone believes the heavy-handed policy of the Greek government towards migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean is contributing to the disaster. Greece has had to endure international criticism for forcing the migrant ships out of Greek waters. In addition, the conditions in Greek refugee camps have been strongly criticized. Demonstrations have been announced in Athens and Thessaloniki on Thursday evening. The tragedy occurs at the same time as the EU has agreed on a new refugee agreement, which is intended to ease the pressure on countries such as Greece, Italy and Spain. Three days of national mourning have been declared in Greece in connection with the tragedy.
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100 children were in the fishing boat that sank off Greece – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
