Relatives of migrant ship passengers seek their loved ones in Kalamata
Relatives of passengers who were aboard a trawler crammed with migrants that went down in the Mediterranean Sea early Wednesday have begun arriving in Kalamata, where the survivors have been taken, in the search for their loved ones.
People have come from Cyprus, the Netherlands and Germany, according to state broadcaster ERT.
Kassem Abu Zeed caught the first flight from Hamburg, Germany, to Greece after hearing that his wife and brother-in-law were on the stricken vessel.
“The last time we spoke was eight days ago, and she told me that she was getting ready to get on the boat,” Abu Zeed told the Associated Press. “She had paid $5,000” to smugglers. “And then we all know what happened.”
Abu Zeed, a 34-year-old Syrian refugee living in Hamburg, said Esra Aoun, 21, and her 19-year-old brother, Abdullah, risked the dangerous crossing from Libya to Italy in a battered trawler in an effort to join him legally in Germany.
The chances that she survived the sinking, which killed at least 78, were low. A huge search-and-rescue operation involving a dozen ships and three aircraft found no survivors since its initial phase early Wednesday, when 104 people were rescued.
Another relative, Tariq, had found two cousins of his, who are in hospital where their condition is described as good.
“The chances of finding (more survivors) are minimal,” retired Greek coast guard Adm. Nikos Spanos told state-run ERT television.
Port officials and hospital doctors who have spoken to survivors said that each of them paid between 4,000 and 6,000 US dollars for a place on the vessel.
Some survivors claimed that the traffickers had sought passengers for the journey through a Facebook site, promising them a better life in Europe. [AP, ERT]
