At least 79 migrants have died in the sinking of a fishing boat in Greece

At least 79 migrants were killed this Wednesday after a fishing boat with hundreds of people on board sank in the Ionian seaoff the Greek coast, confirmed the spokeswoman for the Greek Coast Guard, who warned about this ‘The number of deaths will probably continue to increase’.

So far they could be 104 people were rescued alive24 of whom have been taken to hospital in the town of Kalamata, some 250 kilometers southwest of Athens.

At least, according to some local media 400 people were on board of the 100-foot ship, raising fears that hundreds of people could remain missing. Other media raise this number to 700.

The Greek President, Ekaterini Sakellaropoulou, went to Kalamata yesterday to find out what happened, while the political leaders have canceled their meetings ahead of the parliamentary elections on 25. Similarly, the interim Prime Minister of Greece, Ioannis Sarmas, stated, three days of national mourning for the dead.

In a statement on its Facebook account, the Greek mission of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) described what happened as an “unimaginable tragedy”. He further emphasized that these deaths could have been prevented if safer migration routes had been established in the Mediterranean.

Ten ships, a naval frigate, a helicopter and a Frontex drone, the European Union’s (EU) border agency, are participating in all-night search and rescue operations.

The boat left with destination to Italy off eastern Libya and capsized after a capsize on Wednesday morning in the southwest of the Peloponnese peninsula, authorities said.

Still the exact reasons why it capsized are unknown the boat, as weather conditions were “good” in the area at the time of the incident.

What is most likely examined is that a “change tax” abruptly on the ship due to the simultaneous transfer of the hundreds of people who were on the ship from one side to the other.