Fears up to 100 children dead after being kept in hold of doomed migrant boat as Brit worries relatives among victims
SURVIVORS fear that up to 100 children may have been on board a boat that capsized in waters off Southern Greece on Wednesday morning.
At least 78 people have died and up to 500 are missing after the packed vessel sank off the Peloponnese peninsula.
A British man is also worried his relatives are among the hundreds missing as huge numbers of emergency personnel scour parts of the Ionian Sea.
Aftab Khan, from Wolverhampton, travelled to Greece following the tragedy in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
He is worried his family are among the 500 or more missing following the horror tragedy.
Mr Khan said one of his cousins was found alive, but he was unable to find two others and is still looking for them, according to Sky News.
Nine survivors were arrested yesterday on suspicion of smuggling after the Coastguard brought in 11 suspected smugglers for questioning, describing them as Egyptian nationals.
One official said: “They know how to hide among survivors. And they’re very good at saving themselves.
“The survivors are all men and in a very bad psychological state.”
An image shared by the Greek Coastguard showed the decks packed with people, but accounts of a large number of women and children in the hold of the ship have come from medics who treated survivors.
Authorities announced 104 people – all men – had been rescued from the water following the horrifying incident.
The Italy-bound boat – thought to be carrying up to 750 people – is believed to have sailed from the Tobruk area in eastern Libya before it ran into trouble at around 2am.
So far 78 bodies have been recovered according to the coastguard, with Greece declaring a three-day mourning period.
Greek authorities have been criticized for not acting to rescue the migrants from the overcrowded ship, even though a coast guard vessel moved with the trawler for hours and watched helplessly as it sank in minutes.
Up to 750 people are suspected to have been crammed onboard the 30-metre-long vessel, a European rescue support charity said, although the exact number has not been confirmed.
A senior Greek police official previously told The Sun authorities believed “as many as 500” people could still be unaccounted for.
Chief inspector Nicholas Spanoudakis said: “We have 78 victims and 104 survivors and believe as many as 500 could still be missing.
“Nothing has been confirmed but that is what we believe.”
Six coast guard vessels, a navy frigate, a military transport plane, an air force helicopter and several private vessels are continuing the search, with authorities stationed at Kalamata port.
A drone from the European Union border protection agency, Frontex, has also been brought in.
However, the hunt for survivors of Greece’s deadliest migrant shipwreck this year has been hampered by strong winds and heavy rain.
Kalamata’s mayor Thanassis Vasilopoulos said: “There has been no headway in the search and rescue operation and that worries us.
“We know that hundreds are missing.”
Greece’s civil protection minister Vangelis Tourlas said the aim was to conduct the search operation for as long as it takes.
He added: “The goal is to save what can be saved and to continue the operation despite the weather.
“We did what we had to do. According to international protocol if a vessel in international waters does not want help you cannot force it to accept assistance.”
‘REALLY HORRIFIC’
The Italian coast guard first alerted Greek authorities and Frontex about the approaching vessel on Tuesday.
It was spotted in international waters but passengers “refused any help and stated their desire to continue their voyage” to officials – before their boat sank just hours later.
None on board were wearing life jackets, the coastguard said.
Alarm Phone, which operates a trans-European network supporting rescue operations, said it had received distress calls late on Tuesday night before they lost contact.
State broadcaster ERT said the majority of people on board were young men in their 20s.
A shipping ministry official – who spoke on condition of anonymity -said most were from Egypt, Syria and Pakistan.
Erasmia Roumana, a member of the UNHCR refugee agency, told how survivors were “in a very bad psychological situation”.
She added: “It’s really horrific.
“Many are under shock, they are so overwhelmed.
“Many of them worry about the people they travelled with, families or friends. They want to call their families and tell them that they arrived.”
Greece is a major route for migrants to get into Europe from the Middle East, Asia and Africa.
But people smugglers are increasingly taking larger boats into international waters to try to avoid local coast guard patrols.
Tougher surveillance measures in Greece’s migrant camps brought in by Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ former government have also impacted this.
According to the United Nations, around 72,000 refugees and migrants have arrived in Italy, Spain, Greece, Malta and Cyprus so far this year, with the majority landing in Italy.
The worst migrant tragedy in Greece was in June 2016, when at least 320 people were listed as dead or missing in a sinking near Crete, according to AFP records going back to 1993.