Shocking details of a shipwreck with migrants

There are shocking details of the shipwreck of a ship with hundreds of migrants on board, which is called one of the largest tragedies in the Mediterranean. Greek media indirectly point to the alleged culprit of the shipwreck – the ship of the Italian Coast Guard.

The bodies of 79 migrants have so far been recovered, with fears that the number of victims will much more.

Video footage from the Air Force Super Puma aircraft participating in the operation to rescue migrants in international waters off Pylos was published by the TV channel OPEN.

Two LS-HAKT patrol boats, one LS-HAKT rescue boat, one Navy frigate, seven coastal vessels, one Navy helicopter, and a Frontex unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) operate on the site. All means are deployed by order of the Chief of the General Staff Konstantinos Floros, and the frigate “Κανάρης” is responsible for coordinating actions from the moment of arrival at the shipwreck.

A photograph of a fishing boat before it sank has been released, showing people occupying the entire deck.

The fishing boat was 30 meters long and reportedly carried hundreds of people, mostly from Afghanistan and Pakistan. An official quoted by the British Guardian believes that there were 600 people on board. So far, 104 migrants have been rescued.

Twenty-eight of those rescued were evacuated to a general hospital in Kalamata. The rest have been transferred to the Coast Guard depots and will be transferred to the Malakas shelter on Thursday.

“In our hospital, we are treating 28 rescued. The last of them arrived just recently. The first arrived at about 13.00, and after an hour the rest began to arrive,” Eleni Aliferi, administrator of the Kalamata hospital, told K.

The age of patients starts from 16 years old, they are all teenagers or men. “We have been on alert since yesterday morning when we were warned that it is likely that assistance will be needed. Most of them are experiencing serious problems: hypoglycemia, fever, hypothermia, breathing problems. Some are hospitalized for observation. We remain on alert until then as long as needed.”

The frigate with the bodies of the dead is expected to dock at the port of Kalamata at 8 pm. The bodies will be transported in a rented refrigerated truck to the morgues of Athens and Piraeus. They are mainly migrants from Syria, Egypt and Pakistan.

It is assumed that passengers paid about 5-6 thousand euros for their trip to Italy. According to the latest information, the ship had problems with its engines when it was still relatively close to the Libyan coast. Some suggested turning back, but there were also those who insisted on continuing the voyage in order “not to lose money.”

Next to the fishing boat was an Italian Coast Guard ship. When the smugglers’ engine stalled, a panic began, someone shouted “they will shoot at us”, and all the passengers of the fishing boat rushed to the opposite side from the Italian ship, which caused the ship to capsize. The Italian authorities were reportedly alerted by a call from a woman from an NGO and not by any of the people on board the Italian ship. Mostly men were rescued, there are fears that women and children were in the cabins.

On the left map, the dotted line shows the route of the smugglers’ ship. On the right is the shipwreck. Greek mass media indirectly point to the culprit of the shipwreck – the ship of the Italian Coast Guard.

The Ministry of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection announced that after the shipwreck, at the request of the Hellenic Coast Guard, by decision of the Secretary General of Civil Protection, a special plan for the management of human losses was activated, and then, at the decision of the Chief of the Greek Police, a disaster victim identification group.

The authorities involved in the management of the deceased “have made the necessary preparations and are in full readiness, so that after the completion of the search and rescue operations, which are still in full swing and carried out under the coordination of the Coast Guard / Hellenic Coast Guard, to proceed with all necessary identification actions and identification of the deceased.

Minister for Climate Crisis and Civil Defense Evangelos Tournas and Secretary General of Civil Defense Vassilis Papageorgiou are in constant communication with all stakeholders.

The President of the Republic visited Kalamata and took part in a meeting at the Port Authority. She then visited rescuers who were taken to a local hospital.

A telephone conversation took place between former Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Acting Prime Minister Ioannis Sharma to brief the President of New Democracy on the circumstances of the tragic shipwreck and the ongoing search and rescue operation.

Due to a shipwreck, the New Democracy campaign rally scheduled for today in Patras, with Kyriakos Mitsotakis as speaker, has been postponed. A New Democracy delegation is heading to the area.

SYRIZA President Alexis Tsipras canceled his speech in Sitia today and announced that party officials will travel to Kalamata. KKE General Secretary Dimitris Koutsoumbas also announced that today he will make an extraordinary trip to Kalamata. Odysseas Constantinopoulos will travel to the city’s port, representing PASOK President Nikos Androulakis, to obtain information about the tragic shipwreck.

The authorities and institutions in Kalamata are mobilized to treat and care for the survivors. As the commander of the 6th Health Region Yiannis Karvelis, based in Kalamata, told the Athens-Macedonian news agency: “We have set up an open-air clinic in the harbor area, where those who need medical care are examined.”

Kalamata Mayor Thanasis Vasilopoulos told APE-MPE that “the municipality has opened up the space that exists in the city’s port and, in cooperation with the regional department, has made sure that mattresses, blankets and everything else needed is delivered.” He also said that “water supply, chemical toilets, showers have been installed, while preparations are already underway for preparing and distributing food to migrants.”

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