Greece migrant boat catastrophe survivor has emotional reunion with brother

An 18-year-old teenager who survived after a fishing boat carrying migrants sank off the coast of Greece has been pictured in an emotional reunion together with his brother.

Mohammad, from Syria, was seen crying and holding his elder brother Fadi’s arms via a metallic barricade on the port of Kalamata in Greece, the place survivors had been sleeping for the previous two days.

Fadi, who travelled from the Netherlands to seek for his brother, mentioned “Thank God for your safety”, as he repeatedly kissed his youthful sibling on the pinnacle.

Dozens extra relations gathered on the port hoping for news, clasping screenshots of their family members on their mobiles telephones.

At least 78 people drowned and 104 were rescued after the vessel capsized about 50 miles from the southern coastal city of Pylos on Wednesday morning.

In the quick aftermath of the catastrophe the survivors have been delivered to shore by Greek authorities, and the our bodies of those that died recovered.

Witness accounts counsel between 400 and 750 folks had packed the 20 to 30 metre-long fishing boat.

The ageing vessel was thought to have departed from Egypt, then picked up passengers within the Libyan coastal metropolis of Tobruk on 10 June.

Nine folks have been arrested over the shipwreck, a Greek transport ministry official mentioned.

The actual circumstances of the vessel sinking whereas it was being shadowed by the Greek coastguard are nonetheless unclear.

Greek authorities and European Union border safety company Frontex tracked the boat earlier than it capsized and sank.

Authorities, who have been alerted by Italy on Tuesday and subsequently monitored the vessel over a interval of 15 hours earlier than it sank, say occupants on the vessel repeatedly refused Greek assist, saying they wished to go to Italy.

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Coast guard spokesman Nikos Alexiou, citing survivor accounts, mentioned that passengers within the maintain of the fishing boat included girls and youngsters however that the variety of lacking, believed to be within the tons of, remained unclear.

Survivors who spoke to Greek authorities mentioned they paid $4,500 every to go to Italy.

The United Nations has recorded greater than 20,000 deaths and disappearances within the central Mediterranean since 2014, making it essentially the most harmful migrant crossing on the planet.