AT least 79 people have already been confirmed dead from the overcrowded fishing vessel that sank off the southern coast of Greece.
According to survivors, the boat carrying 600 to 750 people including 100 children from a charity, only more than 100 people have been rescued.
Hundreds of migrants and refugees are still missing after Greek authorities fail to find other survivors.
The vessel was supposedly on its way from Libya going to Italy.;
Most on board were men in their 20’s.
In a timeline provided by the Greek Coastguard, it said that the initial contact was made at 14:00 local time but the boat had been spotted early on Tuesday afternoon by the EU’s border agency Frontex and immediately told Greek and Italian authorities.
Also, the coastguard later said that no one on board was wearing lifejackets.
Meanwhile, nine survivors of the sunken ship were arrested on suspicion of belonging to the smuggling ring that arranged the voyage.
Mohamed Abdi Marwan, who claimed that five of his relatives were on the ship, including a 14-year-old, said that each of his relatives paid 6,000 US dollars for the trip. He added,
“Those smugglers were supposed to only have 500 on the boat and now we hear there were 750. What is this? Are they cattle or humans? How can they do this?” Mohamed Abdi Marwan, Relative of passengers from sunken vessel said.
Coast Guard experts believe that the boat may have run out of fuel or experienced engine trouble, with the movement of the passengers causing it to capsize.
Meanwhile, more than 100 of the survivors were transferred to hospitals and aid centers in Kalamata, a city on the Peloponnese Peninsula, and the bodies of the dead were moved to a morgue near Athens to start the process of identifying the victims.
