Death toll of migrant shipwreck off Greece could soar to hundreds
- Huge search and rescue effort seeks survivors of migrant boat sinking off Greece as dozens of bodies are recovered
- Estimates of the number aboard range from 400 to 750, making it one of Europe’s deadliest shipping disasters
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Bodies recovered after scores drown in year’s deadliest migrant shipwreck off Greece
With its human cargo of migrants filling every available space, the battered blue trawler was about halfway from Libya to Italy when its engine cut out in the night.
The vessel wobbled sharply, flooded and capsized. Less than 15 minutes later, it sank into one of the Mediterranean’s deepest points, off the coast of Greece. Hundreds of people are thought to have been on board when the boat went down Wednesday, although authorities have no precise figure.
Rescuers saved 104 passengers – including Egyptians, Syrians, Pakistanis, Afghans and Palestinians – and recovered 79 bodies. And the search went on Thursday for more, with aircraft dropping flares to help search teams.
“It’s one of the biggest (such) operations ever in the Mediterranean,” Greek coastguard spokesman Nikos Alexiou told state ERT TV. “We won’t stop looking.”
The sinking could be one of the worst ever recorded on the feared central Mediterranean migration route, which is the world’s deadliest.
Ioannis Zafiropoulos, deputy mayor of the southern port city of Kalamata, where survivors were taken, said his information indicated there were “more than 500 people” on board.