At least 78 migrants drown as packed boat ‘carrying 700’ sinks off Greek coast

At least 78 migrants have drowned after a packed boat carrying reportedly 700 migrants sank off the Greek coast before a 90-meter megayacht rescued more than 100 survivors from the Mediterranean.

The victims, believed to be mostly men from Afghanistan and Pakistan, drowned when the boat capsized off Greece’s southern Peloponnese peninsula, leading to the country’s deadliest migrant shipwreck this year.

Coast Guard, Navy and merchant ships fanned out for an extensive search and rescue operation that also involved an airplane and a helicopter.

Authorities said 104 people have been rescued so far after the boat sank overnight in one of the deepest parts of the Mediterranean Sea, some 75 kilometers (45 miles) southwest of the Peloponnese.

It was unclear how many passengers are still in the water or trapped in the sunken ship, but some initial reports suggested there may have been hundreds of people on board.

The Coast Guard said the migrants refused aid and refused food and other supplies when they ran into trouble.

However, dozens of migrants were seen and eventually rescued in the port of Kalamata on the 90-meter Mayan Queen IV yacht owned by the late Mexican billionaire Alberto Baillères.

The harrowing footage showed medics rushing the survivors of the hunt onto stretchers, while others walked around barefoot and draped in blankets.

The $175 million (£137.9 million) mega yacht, built by Blohm & Voss, was launched in 2008 and can carry up to 16 guests and 24 crew members.

The Mayan Queen IV came to the limelight in August 2018 when 20-year-old Australian Instagram model and crew member Sinead McNamara was found hanging from the back of the billionaire’s superyacht in Greece.

The Greek coastguard said 78 bodies have been recovered so far following the overnight tragedy.

Four survivors were hospitalized with symptoms of hypothermia. In the southern port of Kalamata, dozens of others were taken to sheltered areas set up by ambulance services and the United Nations Refugee Agency to receive dry clothes and medical attention.

The boat bound for Italy is believed to have departed from the Tobruk region of eastern Libya, which has plunged into chaos after a NATO-backed uprising that toppled and killed longtime autocrat Moammar Gadhafi in 2011.

Traffickers have taken advantage of the resulting instability and made Libya one of the main points of departure for people trying to reach Europe on smugglers’ boats.

The Italian coastguard first alerted Greek authorities and the European Union’s border control agency, Frontex, about the approaching ship on Tuesday.

The United Nations migration agency, IOM, said initial reports suggested up to 400 people were on board. A network of activists said it had received a distress call from a boat in the same area whose passengers said there were 750 people on board, but it was not clear if that was the ship that sank.

After that initial warning, Frontex planes and two merchant ships saw the boat heading north at high speed, the Greek Coast Guard said. More planes and ships were sent to the area.

But repeated calls to the ship for assistance were denied, the Coast Guard said in a statement.

In the afternoon, a merchant ship approached the ship and supplied it with food and supplies, while the (passengers) refused further assistance,” it said. A second merchant ship approaching it later offered further supplies and aid, which were turned down, it added.

In the evening, a Coast Guard patrol boat reached the ship “and confirmed the presence of a large number of migrants on deck,” the statement said. “But they refused all help and said they wanted to go on to Italy.”

The Coast Guard boat accompanied the migrant ship, which capsized and sank early Wednesday, according to the statement, prompting a massive rescue operation by all vessels in the area.

Alarm Phone, a network of activists that provides a hotline for migrants in trouble, meanwhile said people on a boat in distress had been contacted Tuesday afternoon. That boat was in the same general area as the one that sank, but it wasn’t clear if it was the same ship.

The organization informed the Greek authorities and Frontex. In a communication with Alarm Phone, migrants reported that the ship was overcrowded and that the captain had left the ship on a small boat, the group said. They asked for food and water, which was provided by a merchant ship.

Having bigger boats, Mediterranean smugglers are increasingly trying to stay in international waters as they pass through Greece to evade Coast Guard patrols.

On Sunday, 90 migrants on a US-flagged yacht were rescued in the area after making a distress call.

Six ships of the Hellenic Coast Guard, a naval frigate, a military transport aircraft, an air force helicopter, several private vessels and a Frontex drone are currently taking part in the search for the boat that sank on Wednesday.

Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou headed to the area where rescued migrants are being cared for and planned campaign events by political parties ahead of the June 25 national elections were called off.

Separately on Wednesday, a yacht carrying 81 migrants was towed to a port on the southern coast of the Greek island of Crete after authorities received a distress call.