Hundreds of victims, rescue denied, rusty ship: What is known about the boat drama New world record: Max Park solves the Rubik’s Cube faster than you can read this

What happened?

On Wednesday morning, a boat capsized and sank about 50 nautical miles (about 92 kilometers) off the southwest coast of Greece. There was apparently panic on board, after which the Greek Coast Guard said it was sinking quickly.

The boat was discovered on Tuesday in international waters between Greece and Italy. The Greek coast guard and also passing cargo ships had offered help by radio, but the migrants refused and said they wanted to continue to Italy.

According to the NGO Alarm Phone, the boat departed from Tobruk, Libya. The last time she had contact with the ship’s captain was at 1 a.m. on Wednesday. The last words were: “Hello my friend… The ship you are sending is…”. Then the transmitter went silent.

How many victims are there?

We can only speculate about the exact number of victims. This is because it is not known how many people were actually on board the ship. One thing is certain: the numbers are high.

What is known: 104 people – mainly men between the ages of 16 and 41 – were rescued by the Coast Guard. So far, 79 people have been found dead.

There are different reports about the number of people on board the boat. The UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM) tweeted that there were reports of about 400 people on board.

Rescue reports of up to 700 people who had to squeeze into the boat.

“We fear that the number of victims will rise sharply,” said a spokesman for the Greek government. Given the reported figures, this is a realistic estimate.

How’s the rescue operation going?

Not good. The search continued unsuccessfully Thursday night. “No survivors or other victims were found last night,” a spokesman for the Greek Coast Guard told state radio.

Greek coastguard and naval vessels took the bodies to the southern Greek port of Kalamata. The 104 survivors were housed in tents in the harbor of this port city. Authorities said 26 of them required hospital treatment, mainly for hypothermia. The search is underway, police said.

How was the situation on the boat?

The sunken boat is an old fishing trawler. It was about 100 feet long and completely rusted.

Photos show that up to 200 people gathered on the deck alone. One more tweendeck and the hull can be made up.

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.

What are the reactions?

Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou visited the rescued at the scene. She says: “We are shocked. We are shocked, like everyone else in Greece.”

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres described the boat drama as “appalling”. He warns that every human being deserves safety and dignity.

(aeg/sda)