Hundreds missing in migrant boat sinking; EU Commissioner says 'worst ever tragedy' in Mediterranean
The boat was transferring as many as 750 people from Libya to Italy
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The sinking of a migrant boat off the coast of Greece may have been the deadliest of modern times.
An undetermined amount of people numbering in the hundreds remained missing and were likely killed when the migrant vessel sank earlier this week.
"We don’t have all information yet on what has happened but it seems like this is the worst ever tragedy we’ve seen in the Mediterranean," EU Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson told a press conference in Brussels on Friday.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}8-YEAR-OLD MIGRANT GIRL DIES IN TEXAS WHILE IN BORDER PATROL CUSTODY
A photo shows the boat carrying migrants before it sank, in Kalamata, Greece on June 15, 2023. Rescued immigrants of a shipwreck after a boat carrying dozens of migrants sank in international waters of Ionian Sea, sit inside a warehouse. Greece has declared three days of mourning, the interim prime minister's office said on June 14, over a migrant boat sinking in the Ionian Sea feared to have claimed hundreds of lives. The Greek coastguard has so far recovered 79 bodies and rescued over 100, but survivors are claiming that up to 750 people were on board. The death toll from the sinking of a fishing boat crammed with migrants off the coast of southwestern Greece rose to 79, local media reported on Wednesday. (Photo by Greek Coast Guard/Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
The migrant boat was traveling from Tobruk, Libya, to Italy when it capsized in the ocean off the coast of Greece.
Such a massive loss of life has sparked outrage in Europe over the ongoing migrant crisis as foreign nationals continue to take extremely dangerous voyages to the continent.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Johanssan decried the overpacked boat organized by "smugglers."
Members of a family of a missing person search for informations after shipwreck survivors transferred to a Greek migrant camp in Malakasa, near Athens, on June 16, 2023. Greek rescuers on June 16, 2023, scanned the Ionian Sea by air and boat for survivors of a migrant boat sinking, as hope faded of finding more people alive two days after the disaster. On June 14, a fishing boat overloaded with migrants capsized and sank, killing at least 78 people, off the Peloponnese. Some 104 people had been found alive. ( (Photo by Angelos Tzortzinis / AFP) (Photo by ANGELOS TZORTZINIS/AFP via Getty Images))
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"They are not sending them to Europe, they are sending them to death," said Johansson. "This is what they’re doing, and it’s absolutely necessary to prevent it."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Rescue services have saved over 100 passengers and recovered approximately 79 bodies thus far.
However, survivors claim there were as many as 750 people on the boat when it went under.