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A day after the serious boat accident in the Mediterranean Sea with at least 78 deaths, the Greek coastguard has arrested nine survivors. They would have acted as smugglers. As the state radio (ERT) reported on Thursday evening, the Egyptian men are accused, among other things, of forming a criminal organization. They must be brought before the public prosecutor of the port city of Kalamata. This will decide how to proceed, it said.
Hundreds of migrants are feared killed when the fishing trawler sank about 50 nautical miles southwest of Greece’s Peloponnese peninsula on Wednesday. The Coast Guard was able to rescue 104 people. Interrogation of the survivors by Coast Guard detectives continued Thursday night. According to the authorities’ latest findings, the fishing boat departed from Egypt a few days ago, then stopped in Tobruk in Libya and took on more people. The smugglers then set sail for Italy.
Relatives of the missing persons arrived at the port of Kalamata from other European countries on Thursday. They tried to learn more about the fate of their loved ones through authorities and survivors, reporters on the scene said.
Women and children probably didn’t stand a chance
The search for other survivors continued unsuccessfully. “No survivors or other victims were found during the night,” a spokesman for the Greek coastguard said on state radio Thursday morning.
The accident site is near the deepest point of the Mediterranean Sea, the so-called Calypso layer, which extends about five kilometers to the seabed. A salvage of the wreck could be next to impossible.
After the serious boat accident, Greek media published photos for the first time on Wednesday evening of the accident boat that was overcrowded with migrants. The recordings come from the Greek Coast Guard.
The photos show that up to 200 people were standing on the deck of the rusted fishing cutter alone. One more tweendeck and the hull can be made up. Greek media reported that the 104 people rescued were all men. The other passengers, who according to the survivors included pregnant women and many children, would have remained below deck and had no chance of escaping to the outside as the boat quickly sank. (SDA/treasure)
Source: Blick
I am Amelia James, a passionate journalist with a deep-rooted interest in current affairs. I have more than five years of experience in the media industry, working both as an author and editor for 24 Instant News. My main focus lies in international news, particularly regional conflicts and political issues around the world.
