Shipwreck of migrants off the coast of Greece, 79 dead. Witnesses: there were at least 100 children in the hold

The tragedy that took place yesterday in Kalamata, Greece, a city 250 kilometers southeast of Athens, takes on ever more dramatic dimensions. At least 79 migrants have lost their lives in the sinking of a fishing boat with hundreds of people on board which occurred off the Greek coast. So far 104 people have been rescued but between 400 and 700 people were traveling on the vessel. “The budget will worsen,” warns, in fact, a spokesman for the Greek Coast Guard.

From Libya the vessel was bound for Italy
They were traveling on a fishing boat about thirty meters long, which set sail from Tobruk, on the Libyan coast, and headed for Italy according to reports from the Greek Coast Guard. “But the boat contained double and perhaps triple the passengers allowed, and she capsized,” says Favas. The shipwreck occurred in the waters of the Aegean, 47 nautical miles from Pylos in the southern Peloponnese. The survivors are all men, originating, according to initial information, from Syria, Pakistan, Egypt. None of them were wearing life jackets when they were rescued. According to some survivors, women and children were also traveling on board the ship.

Witnesses: at least one hundred children in the hold
“I asked a patient and he told me about a large number of children, about 100 in the hold.” This was reported to the Greek media by the director of the Cardiology Clinic of the Kalamata hospital where some survivors of the sinking of the fishing boat are hospitalised. Eight of the survivors of the sinking of the fishing vessel off Pylos, Greece, were questioned at the Kalamata Port Authority premises. Three or four of these could be arrested. This was reported by the Greek broadcaster ERT, which speaks of a pre-investigative phase aimed at identifying any smugglers among the survivors of the tragedy. Meanwhile, the search for the missing continues, the precise number of which is not yet known, but which could number in the hundreds.

The European Commissioner for Health
“With member states and third countries, we must do more to stop the criminal networks that put the lives at risk every day” of migrants, wrote the European Commissioner for Health Stella Kyriakides on Twitter, expressing “deep sorrow for the significant loss of life and for people missing off the Greek coast. Each of them – underlines Kyriakides – is a human story that speaks of an escape in search of a better life ».

United Nations, Guterres: “horrified by the tragedy”
The Secretary General of the United Nations Antonio Guterres declared himself “horrified” by the tragedy and through his spokesman Stephane Djugarric recalled the “need for member states to unite to create a safe corridor for those who are forced to flee and implement a action to save lives and reduce dangerous travel”.

National mourning
Three days of national mourning in Greece, after the enormous immigration tragedy yesterday in the Ionian Sea off the Peloponnese in which at least 79 people lost their lives. This was announced by the interim Greek prime minister’s office while hundreds of people are still missing, raising fears that the real number of victims is much higher. It is believed that around 750 people were traveling on the ship. The search for survivors continues.