Europe’s Deadliest Shipping Disaster: 79 Migrants Dead and Hundreds Missing

At least 79 migrants drowned and hundreds more are missing after their overloaded boat capsized and sank off the coast of Greece. The boat, carrying an estimated 750 people, was en route to Italy from the Libyan city of Tobruk. The Greek Coast Guard, assisted by Frontex, first sighted the boat in international waters southwest of Pylos and attempted to offer assistance, but the migrants refused. By midday, 104 people had been rescued, and the search and rescue operations were expected to continue throughout the night. Survivors were taken to the Greek port of Kalamata. The shipwreck is one of Europe’s deadliest shipping disasters in recent years.

Greece, a main route into the EU for refugees and migrants, has seen an increase in longer and riskier sea voyages from Turkey to Italy via Greece due to stricter controls in refugee camps. Greece’s Migration Ministry blames international smuggling networks for endangering migrants’ lives. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees called on governments to create safe escape routes for people fleeing poverty and war. Libya, a key gateway for people hoping to reach Europe by sea, has been unstable since a NATO-backed insurgency in 2011. Smuggling networks in Libya are mostly controlled by military groups. In recent days, the Libyan security forces have cracked down on migrants.

Greece has been at the forefront of Europe’s migration crisis, with nearly a million people arriving on its islands from Turkey in 2015-2016. Numbers have fallen since an EU-Turkey deal in 2016, but approximately 72,000 refugees and migrants have arrived in Europe’s Mediterranean countries so far this year, with the majority in Italy and around 6,500 in Greece. It is estimated that almost 1,000 people have died or disappeared in the Mediterranean this year. Greece’s interim government has declared three days of national mourning for the victims of the shipwreck.

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