This undated handout picture offered by Greece’s coast guard on Wednesday, June14, 2023, reveals scores of individuals masking virtually each free stretch of deck on a battered fishing boat that later capsized and sank off southern Greece.

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This undated handout picture offered by Greece’s coast guard on Wednesday, June14, 2023, reveals scores of individuals masking virtually each free stretch of deck on a battered fishing boat that later capsized and sank off southern Greece.

AP

KALAMATA, Greece — Rescue employees transferred the our bodies of useless migrants to refrigerated vans as a significant search continued Thursday for doable survivors of a sea catastrophe in southern Greece. Hundreds of persons are nonetheless feared lacking.

At least 78 our bodies have been recovered after a fishing boat filled with migrants looking for to make it from Libya to Italy capsized and sank a day earlier in deep waters off the Greek coast.

Rescuers saved 104 passengers — together with Egyptians, Syrians, Pakistanis, Afghans and Palestinians — however authorities worry that a whole bunch of others might have been trapped under deck. If confirmed that may make the tragedy one of many worst ever recorded within the central Mediterranean.

Authorities revised the confirmed dying toll from 79 following an in a single day rely of the our bodies.

“The survivors are in a very difficult situation. Right now they are in shock,” Erasmia Roumana, head of a United Nations Refugee Agency delegation, instructed The Associated Press after assembly the rescued migrants in a storage hangar within the southern port of Kalamata.

“They want to get in touch with their families to tell them they are OK, and they keep asking about the missing. Many have friends and relatives unaccounted for.”

Greece declared three days of mourning and politicians suspended campaigning for a normal election on June 25.

Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, stated she was “deeply saddened” by the tragedy and promised to strengthen cooperation between the European Union and close by nations to attempt to additional crack down on migrant smugglers.

But human rights teams argue that the crackdown means migrants and refugees are being pressured to take longer and extra harmful routes to achieve secure nations.

The search operation south of Greece’s Peloponnese area did not find any extra our bodies or survivors in a single day or early Thursday.

A map reveals the route {that a} fishing boat carrying migrants to Italy from Libya sank within the Mediterranean Wednesday.

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A map reveals the route {that a} fishing boat carrying migrants to Italy from Libya sank within the Mediterranean Wednesday.

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“The chances of finding (more survivors) are minimal,” retired Greek coast guard admiral Nikos Spanos instructed state-run ERT tv.

“We have seen old fishing boats like this before from Libya: They are about 30 meters (100 feet) long and can carry 600-700 people when crammed full. But they are not at all seaworthy. To put it simply, they are floating coffins.”

Coast guard consultants consider the boat might have sunk after operating out of gasoline or struggling engine hassle, with motion of passengers contained in the vessel inflicting it to record and finally capsize.

An aerial {photograph} of the vessel earlier than it sank launched by Greek authorities confirmed individuals crammed on the deck. Most weren’t carrying life jackets.

“We are witnessing one of the biggest tragedies in the Mediterranean, and the numbers announced by the authorities are devastating,” stated Gianluca Rocco, head of the Greek part of IOM, the U.N. migration company.

The IOM has recorded greater than 21,000 deaths and disappearances within the central Mediterranean since 2014.

Greece’s coast guard stated it was notified by Italian authorities of the trawler’s presence in worldwide waters. It stated efforts by its personal ships and service provider vessels to help the boat have been repeatedly rejected, with individuals on board insisting they wished to proceed to Italy.

Twenty-nine of the survivors in southern Greece stay hospitalized, largely with signs of hypothermia, whereas eight have been questioned by coast guard investigators. Government officers stated the survivors could be moved to a migrant shelter close to Athens later Thursday or Friday.

A survivors of a shipwreck washes his face exterior a warehouse on the port in Kalamata city, about 240 kilometers (150miles) southwest of Athens on Wednesday, June 14, 2023.

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A survivors of a shipwreck washes his face exterior a warehouse on the port in Kalamata city, about 240 kilometers (150miles) southwest of Athens on Wednesday, June 14, 2023.

Thanassis Stavrakis/AP

The spot is near the deepest a part of the Mediterranean Sea, and depths of as much as 17,000 ft (5,200 meters) might hamper any effort to find a sunken vessel.

The IOM stated preliminary studies steered as much as 400 individuals have been aboard. A community of activists stated it acquired a misery name from a ship in the identical space whose passengers stated it carried 750 individuals.

The Mediterranean’s deadliest shipwreck in dwelling reminiscence occurred on April 18, 2015, when an overcrowded fishing boat collided off Libya with a freighter making an attempt to return to its rescue. Only 28 individuals survived. Forensic consultants concluded that there have been initially 1,100 individuals on board.