A Syrian teenager who survived the shipwreck that has killed at least 78 people off Greece had an emotional reunion with his brother, as the UN warned up to 500 people could still be missing following the tragedy.
A massive search and rescue operation continued on Friday but hopes of finding more survivors were dwindling.
The UN refugee agency said hundreds of people were still missing, including large numbers of women and children. Spokesman Jeremy Laurence said the “horrific tragedy” underscored the need to bring people smugglers to justice and that search and rescue at sea was a “legal and humanitarian imperative”.
Witness accounts suggested between 400 and 750 people had packed the fishing boat that capsized and sank early on Wednesday morning in the Mediterranean Sea.
In the immediate aftermath of the disaster 104 survivors and 78 people who drowned were rescued by Greek authorities, but no one has been found since.
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 tears 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, showing screenshots of their loved ones on mobiles phones.
Most of the survivors were transferred on Friday by bus to the migrant camp of Malakasa 25 miles outside Athens. They were expected to apply for asylum.
Anwar Bakri, Secretary General of the Syrian Association of Greece 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.”
The fishing vessel was thought to have departed from Egypt, then picked up passengers in the Libyan coastal city of Tobruk on June 10.
Greek authorities say survivors have told them they paid $4,500 each to go to Italy.
The exact circumstances of the vessel sinking while it was being shadowed by the Greek coastguard are still unclear.
Authorities, who were alerted by Italy on Tuesday and subsequently monitored the vessel over a period of 15 hours before it sank, say occupants on the vessel repeatedly refused Greek help, saying they wanted to go to Italy.
An advocacy group that had been in communication with the vessel said that on at least two occasions persons on board pleaded for help. The group, Alarm Phone, said it had alerted Greek authorities and aid agencies hours before the disaster unfolded.
Greek officials h denied a series of reports that suggest the migrant boat capsized 50 miles off the country’s south coast because a rope was attached by coastguards.
Nine Egyptians, aged between 20 and 40 years, were arrested over the shipwreck on Thursday evening.
Authorities said they faced charges of negligent manslaughter, exposing lives to danger, causing a shipwreck and human trafficking.
They were expected to appear before a judge and respond to the accusations in the coming days.
