Tragedy at sea: hundreds feared dead in Greek migrant disaster
At least 78 people are known to have died in sinking, with the death toll expected to rise
Hundreds are feared dead after an overloaded fishing boat carrying migrants from Libya to Italy capsized and sank on Wednesday off the coast of southern Greece.
Survivors say as many as 750 people may have been “packed on to the boat”, reported the BBC. As many as 100 children may have been trapped in the hold. At least 78 people are known to have died in the disaster, with only 104 survivors pulled from the sea so far.
Rescue efforts are still underway, reported The Associated Press, with patrol boats and a helicopter continuing to “scour the area”, some 50 miles off Pylos in southwest Greece where the fishing vessel sank. But hopes are dwindling as the rescue mission has “failed to locate” any survivors since late on Wednesday.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Greek authorities have described the incident as “one of the largest migrant tragedies ever recorded on the central Mediterranean migration route”, according to Time magazine.
The Greek government has declared three days of national mourning, but authorities are facing increasing criticism for their handling of the incident, said Al Jazeera. Thousands have demonstrated across Greece after reports that “a coastguard vessel escorted the trawler for hours and was present as it sank in minutes”.
Frontex, the EU’s border agency, spotted the boat on Tuesday afternoon and informed Greek and Italian authorities, according to the BBC. The coastguard said initial contact was made at 14:00, with no distress signal. The Greek shipping ministry then attempted communication, but the crew reportedly “insisted on sailing to Italy”.
At around 01:40 on Wednesday, the coastguard was notified of an engine malfunction. Shortly after, the boat capsized within 10 to 15 minutes, with the search and rescue operation hampered by “strong winds”.
This incident adds to the shocking number of migrant deaths in the Mediterranean. The UN International Organization for Migration reported that in the first quarter of 2023 there were 441 deaths in the central Mediterranean, the highest number since 2017. In all, since 2014, more than 26,000 people have “died or gone missing crossing the Mediterranean”, said the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Best UK hotels for Christmas stays in 2024
Make merry and bright (and stress-free) with one of these gorgeous festive escapes
By Rebekah Evans, The Week UK Published
-
Quiz of The Week: 30 November - 6 December
Have you been paying attention to The Week's news?
By The Week Staff Published
-
The Week Unwrapped: Is population growth going into reverse?
Podcast Plus, will the Taliban stop women working as nurses? And are honey fans in a sticky spot?
By The Week Staff Published
-
Greece’s ‘earthquake’ of an election: a right-wing triumph
feature PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis led his New Democracy party to victory on 21 May
By The Week Published
-
Death in Crotone: the tragedy of a migrant boat
feature Italian authorities under fire after deadliest shipwreck in the country’s waters since 2013
By The Week Staff Published
-
Greek rail workers strike as anger grows over deadly crash
Speed Read Protests erupt in Athens as death toll from train collision rises to 57
By Ellie Pink Published
-
The Year Unwrapped: White refugees, Aegean islands and celebrity gossip
podcast Was 2022 the year of the white refugees? What’s really going on in the Aegean sea? And why are we so obsessed with showbiz scandals?
By The Week Staff Published
-
‘The Navy shouldn’t be tasked with refloating Boris Johnson’s sinking ship’
Instant Opinion Your digest of analysis from the British and international press
By The best columns Published
-
‘Why are people so desperate to reach the UK that they will step into dinghies?’
Instant Opinion Your digest of analysis and commentary from the British and international press
By The best columns Published
-
Moria refugee camp in Lesbos: a pandemic ‘waiting to happen’
In Depth Doctor warns conditions in overcrowded camp mirror those that first spread Spanish flu in 1918
By The Week Staff Last updated