GREECE: At least 79 people died after a migrant boat carrying hundreds of people sank off the Greek coast in the early hours of Wednesday, that country’s Coast Guard said, as fears mount that there could be more fatalities.
A total of 104 migrants who were traveling on the boat have since been rescued from the water and transferred to the city of Kalamata.
“All the men who have been rescued are between 16 and 41 years old according to what they said,” Kalamata Mayor Thanasis Vasilopoulos said Wednesday. “They also said there were women and children on board,” he added.
The coast guard, which revised down a previous death toll of 79, said the search and rescue operation will stop once it’s dark in the area and will continue with the first light of day tomorrow.
It is unclear how many people were on board the ship when it went under. Survivors say there could have been as many as 750 passengers.
“We fear that the number of dead will rise significantly,” a spokesperson for Peloponnese prefect Panagiotis Nikas said.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) earlier tweeted that it believed that there were “up to 400 people” onboard. UN Chief Antonio Guterres referred to the shipwreck as “horrific” in a post on Twitter, adding: “As I’ve said before – every person searching for a better life deserves safety and dignity.”
-CNN