Dozens dead, 100 rescued in deadliest migrant shipwreck off Greece this year
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00:00 Let's get you some more details on this.
00:01 We can cross live to France 24's
00:02 Natalie Savarikas in Athens.
00:04 Natalie, what more do we know at this stage
00:06 about this capsizing and sinking of the boat?
00:09 - Well, I've been constantly liaising
00:14 with the authorities here.
00:15 The latest numbers are pretty much
00:17 what the ones you said, 104 have been rescued,
00:21 taken to Kalamata in Southern Greece.
00:23 The tragedy occurred at 47 nautical miles southwest
00:28 of Pylos, that's in the southern mainland
00:32 Greece region of the Peloponnese.
00:35 The bleak development remains as such.
00:36 59 bodies, the authorities aren't able yet
00:39 to give us a picture as to whether there were
00:41 families and children on board.
00:44 However, they were pretty certain that this number
00:48 is very likely to increase.
00:50 The numbers will change every minute
00:53 and many more are indeed feared to be missing
00:57 and even dead.
00:58 Now, the large search and rescue operation
01:01 is led by Greece with 11 vessels,
01:05 including one frigate, a helicopter of the Navy
01:08 that was also a Super Puma helicopter
01:11 that rescued those people.
01:13 Four are being treated in hospital with hypothermia
01:17 and the Frontex, the European Union's border agency
01:21 is contributing with one unmanned drone
01:25 to kind of surveil the area in the desperate search
01:29 for any more missing people.
01:31 Now, we do not know the numbers of families or of children.
01:36 Authorities allege that they repeatedly try
01:39 to help this big boat.
01:42 They tried to offer supplies throughout the night,
01:45 but at each time were refused any sort of help.
01:49 - I mean, Natalie, in this area of the world,
01:53 this is the first kind of tragedy of this magnitude
01:56 in 2023.
01:57 - Well, Greece is one of the main entryways into Europe.
02:04 This is unfortunately not an unfamiliar site,
02:08 although for Greece and for the Greek waters,
02:13 it is the first big tragedy of such a scale for 2023.
02:18 We know that the country has seen an increase
02:21 of arrivals by 53% to last year.
02:25 The overwhelming, however, majority of asylum seekers
02:29 in Greece come from Asia.
02:31 We're talking about well over, out of the 13,000
02:35 that happened this year, over 8,000 are from Asia
02:39 and only 3,600 are from Africa.
02:43 However, this is only the beginning of the summer.
02:45 The summertime is when we see an increase
02:49 of such dinghies of boats trying to make their way
02:52 to Italy mainly, whether it's from Libya or from Turkey.
02:57 Greece is just a passing boat.
02:59 One of the thoughts is that perhaps this vessel
03:04 was trying to reach Italy and did not want the intervention
03:08 of the Greek Coast Guard 'cause it didn't want to be
03:10 diverted into the Greek waters.
03:13 72,000 refugees have already made it into Italy
03:19 into the European frontline countries this year.
03:23 Next week, we have the European,
03:25 the International Refugee Day,
03:28 a very bleak picture for Europe as we're understanding
03:32 that these numbers are only likely to increase this summer.
03:36 - All right, Natalie, as you say, a bleak picture indeed.
03:40 Fernaldo from Athens, thanks very much, Natalie.