Fri 16 June 2023:
Protests have erupted across Greece in response to the sinking of a boat carrying migrants and refugees, which killed at least 78 people.
More than 100 people were rescued from a capsized boat off the coast of Pylos, but hopes for hundreds of others who remain missing have faded.
A huge search and rescue operation recovered 78 bodies, but authorities estimate the trawler may have carried as many as 750 passengers, who each paid thousands of dollars for passage on the battered vessel.
Al Jazeera’s John Psaropoulos, reporting from the town of Kalamata where the survivors were being held by the authorities, said nine men had been arrested on suspicion of belonging to the smuggling ring that arranged the voyage.
78 dead and dozens feared missing as refugee boat sinks off Greece*
About 104 passengers had been rescued as of Wednesday afternoon. There has been a dramatic rise in the death count, which is climbing by the hour, Speculation is rife that as many as 600 people were onboard. pic.twitter.com/DP2OmjtjUf
— INDEPENDENT PRESS (@IpIndependent) June 14, 2023
“It’s thought they were junior functionaries, not the ultimate beneficiaries of the $3m this passage may have been worth,” Psaropoulos said.
On Thursday, Greek rescuers scoured the Ionian Sea for survivors as hope of finding more victims waned.
The vessel sank in international waters off the coast of Peloponnese, 47 nautical miles (87 kilometers) southwest of Pylos. The location is close to one of the Mediterranean’s deepest places.
United Nations migration agency, the International Organization for Migration, estimated the number of passengers based on interviews with survivors and said the complement included at least 40 children.
On Thursday, leader of main opposition party Syriza, Alexis Tsipras, spoke with European Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson about the shipwreck tragedy, the party said in a statement.
“This incident demonstrates in the clearest way the failure of the EU to promote a structured refugee migration policy that puts human life as the first priority,” Tsipras said, after visiting the survivors in Kalamata.
Thousands of people demonstrated on Thursday in cities across Greece to protest against the authorities’ handling of the shipwreck, as well as the European Union’s migration policies.
Greek authorities were criticised for not acting to rescue the migrants and refugees.
A coastguard vessel escorted the trawler for hours and was present as it sank in minutes.
Greek officials argued that the passengers repeatedly refused assistance and insisted on continuing to Italy. The vessel appeared to be sailing normally until shortly before it sank and refused repeated rescue offers, they said.
But Alarm Phone, a self-organised hotline for refugees and migrants in distress in the Mediterranean Sea, said they received repeated distress calls from the vessel during the same timeframe.
Greek Supreme Court Prosecutor Isidoros Dogiakos appointed a Supreme Criminal Court deputy prosecutor to supervise an investigation of the incident.
SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES
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