As many as 500 people are still missing after a boat laden down with migrants sank in the seas off Greece, the United Nations has said. At least 78 people have already been confirmed dead.
And the UN Refugee Agency is calling for urgent and decisive action to prevent further deaths at sea following the latest tragedy in the Mediterranean, the worst in several years.
While the number of people onboard the boat, which capsized on 14 June off the coast of Greece, is not clear, it is thought to have been somewhere between 400 and 750, according to various testimonies. Up to 100 children may also have been on board the vessel.
Speaking at a meeting in Geneva, Mr Lawrence UN human rights office spokesman Jeremy Laurence said: “The high commissioner expressed his condolences to those who have lost loved ones – 78 people are known to have died and up to 500 are missing, among them large numbers of women and children.”
The overloaded fishing vessel was reported to have been in distress since the Tuesday morning, and the Hellenic Coast Guard launched a rescue operation the next day after it capsized, with the UN and others saying it should have started earlier.
READ MORE: Russia ‘highly likely’ to be behind Ukraine dam attack, say investigators
In a joint statement, the UN Refugee Agency, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) described search and rescue at sea is “a legal and humanitarian imperative”.
Federico Soda, IOM Director for the Department of Emergencies, added: “It is clear, that the current approach to the Mediterranean is unworkable. Year after year, it continues to be the most dangerous migration route in the world, with the highest fatality rate.
“States need to come together and address the gaps in proactive search and rescue, quick disembarkation, and safe regular pathways.
“These collective efforts should have the human rights of migrants and saving lives at the centre of any response.”
Gillian Triggs, UNHCR Assistant High Commissioner for Protection, pointed the finger at Brussels, saying: “The EU must put safety and solidarity at the heart of its action in the Mediterranean. In view of the increased movements of refugees and migrants in the Mediterranean, collective efforts, including greater coordination between all Mediterranean States, solidarity and responsibility-sharing, as reflected in the EU’s Pact on Migration and Asylum are essential to save lives.
“This includes the establishment of an agreed regional disembarkation and redistribution mechanism for people who arrive by sea, which we continue to advocate for.”
Adriana Tidona of Amnesty International commented: “The Greek government had specific responsibilities toward every passenger on the vessel, which was clearly in distress.
“This is a tragedy of unimaginable proportions, all the more so because it was entirely preventable.”
The Greek coast guard yesterday defended its response in the face of mounting criticism after what appears to be the second deadliest migrant shipwreck recorded after the tragedy in which a vessel capsized off the coast of Libya en route to Italy in April 2015, killing an estimated 1,100 people.
Greek coast guard spokesman Nikos Alexiou said that both coast guard and private ships repeatedly offered by radio and loudspeaker to help the vessel Wednesday while it was in international waters, also heading from Libya to Italy, but the attempts to help were rebuffed.
Mr Alexiou argued that any effort to tow the overcrowded trawler or move hundreds of unwilling people onto nearby ships would have been too dangerous.
He told state-run ERT TV: “Υou will have a disturbance, and the people will surge – which, unfortunately is what happened in the end. You will have caused the accident.”
Mr Alexiou also said that, after accepting food from a merchant ship, the trawler’s passengers rejected a rope bringing more from a second merchant ship “because they thought the whole process was a way for us to take them to Greece”.
