Frontex chief: Greek authorities ‘did their upmost to save lives’
The head of the EU border agency Frontex has said the Greek authorities “did their upmost to save lives” in Wednesday’s sinking of a ship crammed with migrants that went down off the coast of Pylos, in the Peloponnese.
Speaking from the nearby city of Kalamata, Frontex Executive Director Hans Leijtens said the sinking was “a horrible incident, any way you look at it.”
His “heart is with the victims and their families,” he said.
“I’m also here to have a better understanding of what happened because we also, as Frontex, played a role in it.”
He added that he was in Greece to “to show my solidarity and my help to the Hellenic Police, who did their upmost to save lives.”
Rescuers continued to scour the seas on Thursday following the shipwreck, which killed at least 78 migrants, as hopes of survivors dwindled and fears grew that hundreds more, including children, may have drowned inside the crowded vessel’s hold.
Reports suggested between 400 and 750 people had packed the fishing boat that departed the Libyan port of Tobruk and capsized and sank early on Wednesday morning in deep waters about 80 km from the southern coastal town of Pylos. Authorities said 104 survivors had been brought ashore. [Kathimerini/Reuters]
