Syrian survivor Mohammad, 18, who was rescued with other refugees and migrants at open sea off Greece after their boat capsized, cries as he reunites with his brother Fadi, who came to meet him from Netherlands, at the port of Kalamata, Greece, on June 16.STELIOS MISINAS/Reuters
A Syrian teenager who survived a shipwreck that killed at least 78 people off Greece was emotionally reunited with his elder brother on Friday, but there was no news for other relatives searching for loved ones.
Witness accounts suggested between 400 and 750 people had packed the 20- to 30 metre-long (65- to 100-foot) fishing boat that capsized and sank early on Wednesday morning about 50 miles (80 km) from the southern coastal town of Pylos.
In the immediate aftermath of the disaster 104 survivors and 78 people who drowned were brought to shore by Greek authorities, but nothing has been found since.
A massive search and rescue operation continued on Friday, but hopes were dwindling of finding any more survivors from the hundreds of people believed to have been on board the boat when it sank in some of the deepest waters of the Mediterranean.
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Most of the people on board were from Egypt, Syria and Pakistan, government officials have said.
Early on Friday survivor Mohammad, 18, from Syria, burst into sobs as he spotted his elder brother Fadi, who had travelled from the Netherlands searching for him.
They wept and hugged through metal barricades, erected by Greek police around a warehouse in Kalamata where survivors had been sleeping for the past two days.
“Thank God for your safety,” Fadi said, repeatedly kissing his younger sibling on the head.
About 25 other relatives gathered outside the Kalamata shelter, hoping for news, clasping screenshots of their loved ones on mobiles phones.
Most of the survivors, 71 people, were transferred on Friday by bus to the migrant camp of Malakasa, a gated facility with barbed wire fencing 40 km (25 miles) outside Athens. They were expected to apply for asylum.
Adil Hussain was searching for his brother, who had lived for 12-14 years in Greece undocumented and had returned to Pakistan. After two years of living in poverty there, he decided to make the journey to Italy.
“A friend of my brother’s is here. I want to ask where my brother is. I spoke to him last Friday, he said we’re leaving Libya tonight,” said Hussain who lives in Greece.
Anwar Bakri, Secretary General of the Syrian Association of Greece, was also standing outside the camp. He said he had received “hundreds of calls” from people in Germany, in Turkey and other countries, who feared their Syrian relatives were on the sunken boat.
“It’s a tragedy,” he said. “I have numerous photos, at least 15 photos until now, of missing people, young children, 16 year-olds, 20 year-olds, 25 year-olds, whose parents are looking for them,” Bakri said.
“From what I was told, there are no women. All the women died, they sank, they drowned with their children in their arms.”