As many as 750 people may have been packed onto the fishing boat which sank on Wednesday, around 80 km from the Greek coast, while on its way to Italy.
Reports at the present time estimate that as many as 750 people may have been on board including as many as 100 children. At the time of writing, 79 are confirmed dead with 104 survivors confirmed.
The Guardian cited Kalamata's (Peloponnese's second largest city) deputy mayor: “[Survivors] are from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria and Egypt. We’re talking about young men, mostly, who are in a state of huge psychological shock and exhaustion. Some fainted as they walked off the gangplanks from the vessels that brought them here.”
Nine men have been arrested by the Greek authorities on suspicion of "people-smuggling".
Other reports explain that Greece has tightened controls against illegal migration, with Italy receiving the largest number of "irregular" migrants so far this year - over 55 000. This figure represents approximately 2 days of Ukrainian refugees coming across the Polish border since Russia's 2022 invasion (the total figure for the first quarter of 2023 being close to 2 million - Polish Border Guard statistics.)
Meanwhile disputes continue across the European Union how to handle migration. On Thursday, Jarosław Kaczyński, the head of the ruling Law and Justice party said that EU-agreed mechanisms for the relocation of migrants "undermined" Poland's sovereignty. He proposed a referendum in Poland to resolve the conflict:
Sources: PAP, The Guardian, AP News, Polish Border Guard, Twitter
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