Topline
Greece’s deadliest shipwreck in years killed at least 79 migrants, with more than 100 rescued, after a capsized fishing vessel sank off the coast en route to Italy from Libya as the nearly decade-long migrant crisis continues.
Survivors of a shipwreck sleep at a warehouse at the port in Kalamata town Wednesday, June 14, 2023. … [+]
Key Facts
A search and rescue operation was still underway Wednesday morning as Greek officials continue to respond to the country’s deadliest shipwreck since 2015, according to the New York TImes.
The fishing vessel carrying at least 180 migrants refused an offer of food and assistance from the Greek Coast Guard Tuesday evening, officials said, but the boat overturned and eventually sank in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
At least 104 passengers have been recovered alive since the wreck about 47 nautical miles from the city of Pylos in what Greek officials called a “wide-ranging search and rescue operation.”
A state broadcaster reported the ship that sank Wednesday set sail from Tobruk, Libya.
The wreck is the deadliest in Greece since 70 people died off the island of Lesbos in October of 2015.
Key Background
Greece and Turkey have taken the brunt of Europe’s migrant crisis since the 2015 start of a civil war in Syria that collided with residents fleeing violence in Afghanistan, Iraq and other Middle Eastern nations. By the end of 2016, nearly 5.2 million refugees and migrants reached European shores. Greece is a popular route to the European Union from the Middle East, Asia and Africa. Greece saw a 20-fold increase in migrants and asylum seekers in 2015 as 857,000 people arrived, many of them Syrians and Afghans. Greece also played host to more than 70,000 Ukrainian refugees in 2022, according to Human Rights Watch. Roughly 71,000 people have arrived to Italy, Greece, Spain, Cyprus and Malta by sea so far this year, United Nations Data shows. More than 1,000 have died or gone missing. The migration crisis has been a key issue during Greece’s 2023 election, during which Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has defended his government’s migration crackdown.
Crucial Quote
“The shipwreck brings to the fore once again, in the most tragic way, the need to dismantle the international smuggling rings that endanger the lives of migrants,” Greece’s Migration Ministry said Wednesday.
Big Number
3,789. That’s how many migrants died on similar sea routes last year, a report by the International Organization for Migration says.
Further Reading
Old Democracy, New Economy – Is This A New Beginning For Greece? (Forbes)
As Greece Votes, Leader Says Blocking Migrants Built ‘Good Will’ With Europe (New York Times)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/maryroeloffs/2023/06/14/at-least-78-dead-in-worst-shipwreck-off-greece-in-years/