Those rescued from the Ionian describe a climate of authentic terror inside the boat

Terror. That is the word with which those rescued after the shipwreck of a fishing boat that sank on Wednesday in the Ionian Sea -causing at least 78 deaths and hundreds missing- describe the climate that was experienced on the boat because of the traffickers of people.

Greek private television SKAI was able to interview one of the rescued and there he recounted how one of the traffickers in charge “asked for money and had a bar to terrorize” the passengers.

After the rescue and with the testimonies of the survivors, the Greek authorities took photos and numbered them to ask who was in command of the ship and it was there when another of those rescued accused “number 70” of taking “charge of the ship when the captain rested. He was second in the hierarchy and we were all very afraid of him.”

[Acusan a los guardacostas griegos de no actuar pese a divisar el barco 15 horas antes del naufragio]

This Monday, before the prosecutor’s office in the Greek city of Kalamata, those detained by the Police who are accused of forming a criminal organization for the smuggling of immigrants, causing a shipwreck and endangering lives.

public television ERT He assured that the boat left Egypt to make a stop in Libya, where it boarded the migrants, and then headed for Italy.

“We were traveling for four days, they gave us little food and dirty water. I estimate that there were about 700 people traveling on the boat,” says Hasan, a 23-year-old Syrian, in a testimony collected by the Kathimerini newspaper.

The search operations continue this Sunday for the fifth day, although the chances of finding someone alive are almost nil.

[Hasta 100 niños viajaban en la bodega del barco hundido en Grecia donde han muerto 78 personas]

According to the survivors, in the crowded boat many women and children traveledwhom the traffickers had located in the ship’s holds.

“My wife and children were put in the holds,” says Rana, a 24-year-old Pakistani, who agrees with Hasan in his estimate of the number of people on board the fishing boat.

All the 104 rescued are maleeight of them minors.

The survivors have been transferred to the closed center of Malakasa, on the outskirts of Athens, to be identified and from where they can request asylum.

the shipwreck

According to the testimonies, the old fishing boat’s engine had started to present problems since the second day of the trip and there was a person among the traffickers in charge of fixing it when it stopped working.

However, early Wednesday morning, southwest of the Peloponnese peninsula, “the ship began to take on water,” according to Rana.

According to the testimony of that rescued person, the migrants then moved to the other side of the boat, where there was no leak, which caused it to capsize and eventually capsize. “Those who did not have time to get out sank with the boat, including my wife and children,” he said.

Other testimonies indicate that hours before the shipwreck the Greek coast guards tried to throw a line into the fishing boat, but the embarked rejected the aid because they wanted to continue with their trip to Italy.

The migratory tragedy, one of the biggest in the history of the Mediterranean, has revived criticism of the European Union by international organizations and various NGOs that criticize his immigration policy.

“Let’s be clear, this is not a Greek problem. This is a European problem,” UN Secretary General António Guterres said on Thursday.

“If countries do not commit to creating the conditions for orderly and regular migration, migrants will be in the hands of traffickers and the consequences will be as tragic as the ones we saw yesterday,” he said.