Most of the rescued remain in the port of Kalamata, who, according to doctors and volunteers who have helped, are in a state of shock, while many are worried about their relatives who were on board.
While the search for the missing persons continues, the rescued give statementσ about what happened and as soon as this process is completed, they will be transferred, as announced by the Ministry of Immigration, to the structure in Malakasa.
As the hours pass, the hopes of finding survivors from the tragedy are fading, while the authorities have still not specified the number of missing persons, with the refugees speaking of 700 people, among them women and children.
The relatives of the victims and the missing are anxious about the fate of their own people and send photos to doctors at the Kalamata hospital in order to learn about them.
The official “numbers” of the Coast Guard
According to information from the Coast Guard, the official death toll is 78 and not 79 as originally reported. Of those rescued, 47 are Syrian, 43 Egyptian, 12 Pakistani and 2 Palestinian. Among them there are 10 minors, 5 Egyptians and 5 Syrians.
It is not yet clear if the captain of the boat is among the missing, as information is unclear. However, according to the testimony of the activist who was the first to contact the refugees before the shipwreck, it seems that the passengers told her that the driver of the boat had abandoned it and thus they could not head for Italy as they did not know where to go.
Surveys of the rescued
Unconfirmed information speaks of an investigation by the authorities in order to identify the traffickers among the rescued, but no arrests have been made so far. Besides, it is a common tactic of the port authorities after shipwrecks to search for traffickers among those who have been rescued, and they usually make arrests as well.
At the same time, the deputy prosecutor of the Supreme Court, Giorgos Oikonomou, takes over the supervision of the investigations and investigative actions carried out concerning the wreck with many deaths off Pylos, by order of the prosecutor of the Supreme Court, Isidoros Dogiakos.
In Kalamata, at the place where the investigations are being carried out, the head of the Kalamata Prosecutor’s Office, Polyxeni Tsouli, is supervising all the procedures.
The tragedy has taken on international dimensions with reports in the press speaking of a watery grave, while there is no lack of spikes about the actions of the coast guard who, while they knew about the existence of the ship which was suffocatingly full of refugees and immigrants, did not catch the wreck.
Indicative is a publication by the Italian La Republica, which talks about the failure of the Greek authorities to intervene, while claiming that the fishing boat with hundreds of people had started “toward the coasts of the Peloponnese” and did not eventually chart a course for the coasts of Calabria.
And Le Monde quoting Vincent Cochetel, special envoy of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) for the Western and Central Mediterranean, reports that Greek rescue boats are accompanying the slave ships until they are sure they are out of its borders of their own rescue zone of responsibility.
The corpses of the victims at Schistos
The victims of the tragedy were transported by refrigerated truck to a special area in Schistos Korydallos in order to begin the autopsies to clarify the causes of death and to make an attempt at identification.
The investigations will be carried out by the forensic services of Athens and Piraeus as the relevant infrastructure does not exist in Kalamata.
The dimensions of the tragedy are unimaginable and unprecedented for Greek data.
However, the exact number of people on board remains unclear, with the testimonies of rescued migrants about the number of children and women who were in the holds of the fatal fishing boat shocking.
As reported by state broadcaster ERT, rescued people brought to the doctors of the Kalamata hospital who treated them told them that there were about 100 children in the holds of the boat.
Latest News
OECD: Greek Economy Resilient with 2% Growth Forecast for 2024
However, the OECD highlights challenges including the need to enhance productivity and fiscal adjustment due to high debt levels.
Challenges and Delays in Greece’s Hydrocarbon Exploration
Sources disclose that the petroleum companies holding the concessions are seeking partners to jointly invest and share the costs of exploration and drilling.
Greek Beach Visitors Can Report Violations on New ‘MyCoast’ App
Greek authorities hope the newly-launched, free ‘MyCoast’ app will help clamp down on public beach violations
BoG Figures Confirm Banner Year for Greek Tourism in 2023
20.6 billion euros in related revenues topped the previous year’s figure by 16.5%
Piraeus Bank to Propose First Dividend in 16 Years
Piraeus Bank has forecast profits of roughly 900 million euros this year, rising to one billion euros next year
Eurostat: Inflation in Greece Eases to 3.2% in April; 2.4% in Eurozone
The rate of increase for food prices was up by 4.9% in April 2024, compared to 4.8% in the previous month
ELSTAT Feb. Retail Turnover Drops by 3.8%, Sales Volume Plummets by 9.8%
Additionally, the seasonally adjusted General Volume Index for Feb. 2024 experienced a 3.8% decrease compared to the previous month of the same year
Greek Buyers Lead Return to Vacation Home Market
In the last six months, Greeks have made a surge into the vacation home market, notably without relying on loans
NBG Receives BBB Investment Grade by DBRS
This makes NBG the first Greek bank to regain Investment grade status, nearly 15 years after the onset of the Greek financial crisis
Greek Gov. Budget: Primary Surplus 3bln in Q1 2024
Value Added Tax (VAT) revenues reached 5.876 billion euros, down by 16 million euros compared to the target