Up to 750 people may have been on board the fishing vessel, which is believed to have been on its way from Egypt, via Libya, to Italy.
“We are witnessing one of the biggest tragedies that has happened in the Mediterranean Sea and the figures that the authorities come up with are devastating”, announces the UN migration agency IOM.
So far, more than 100 people have been rescued from the water. 78 dead bodies had been found according to a statement on Thursday evening.
A person who survived the accident and is being treated in hospital in the city of Kalamata has said that around 100 children were in the boat’s hold.
“Be overcrowded”
Aerial photos taken before the boat sank show a large number of people crowded onto the deck.
– The boat was overcrowded. An exact figure cannot be given with certainty, but what is certain is that it is very many, says Nikos Alexiou, spokesperson for the Greek Coast Guard
Nine people who survived the accident have been arrested on suspicion of human smuggling.
The accident happened in the waters off Pylos on the southern coast of the Greek island of Peloponnese, near the deepest point of the Mediterranean Sea.