Greece Boat Tragedy: No More Surviours While Hundreds Still Feared Trapped, 3-Day National Mourning Declared

Greece Boat Tragedy: While the confirmed death toll rose to 79 and rescuers managed to save 104 passengers, authorities fear that hundreds may still be trapped below deck.

The Greek coastguard released images of the crowded boat in an aerial image captured before it went down.

Source : www.hcg.gr

Hundreds of people are still feared missing as a major search for possible survivors of a sea disaster in southern Greece continued on Thursday. Rescue workers transferred the bodies of dead migrants to refrigerated trucks while the Greek government announced a three-day period of national mourning for the victims of a shipwreck that occurred in international waters off the country's southwestern coast. At least 79 bodies were recovered after a fishing boat crammed with migrants seeking to make it from Libya to Italy capsized and sank a day earlier in deep waters off the Greek coast.

The confirmed death toll rose to 79 after an overnight count of the bodies, news agency Associated Press reported.

As per AP’s report, rescuers saved 104 passengers — including those from Egypt, Syria, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Palestine — but authorities fear that hundreds may still be trapped below deck.

If more fatalities are confirmed, the incident would become one of the worst-ever recorded in the central Mediterranean.

“The survivors are in a very difficult situation. Right now they are in shock,” Erasmia Roumana, head of a United Nations Refugee Agency delegation, told the AP after meeting the rescued migrants in a storage hangar in the southern port of Kalamata.

Greece Boat Tragedy: 3-Day National Mourning Declared In Greece

Greece declared three days of mourning and politicians suspended campaigning for a general election on June 25, the report mentioned.

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said she was “deeply saddened” by the tragedy and vowed to strengthen cooperation between the European Union and nearby countriesin bid to further crack down on migrant smugglers.

The search operation south of Greece’s Peloponnese region could not locate any more bodies or survivors overnight or early Thursday.

“The chances of finding (more survivors) are minimal,” retired Greek coast guard admiral Nikos Spanos told state-run ERT television, as per AP’s report.

“We have seen old fishing boats like this before from Libya: They are about 30 meters (100 feet) long and can carry 600-700 people when crammed full. But they are not at all seaworthy. To put it simply, they are floating coffins.”

An aerial photograph of the vessel before the incident was released by Greek authorities and it showed people crammed on the deck. Most could be seen not wearing life jackets.

“We are witnessing one of the biggest tragedies in the Mediterranean, and the numbers announced by the authorities are devastating,” said Gianluca Rocco, head of the Greek section of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the U.N. migration agency, as quoted by AP.

The IOM has logged over 21,000 deaths and disappearances in the central Mediterranean since 2014.

Before this, the Mediterranean’s deadliest shipwreck in living memory happened on April 18, 2015, when an overcrowded fishing boat collided off Libya with a freighter trying to come to its rescue. Only 28 people survived the incident.

As per AP’s report, forensic experts concluded that there were originally 1,100 people on board.

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