At least 79 dead, hundreds missing after boat sinks off Greek coast Authorities in Greece say that a fishing boat with people on board who w...
At least 79 dead, hundreds missing after boat sinks off Greek coast
Authorities in Greece say that a fishing boat with people on board who were trying to get to Europe sank Wednesday off the coast of Greece.
WASHINGTON, D.C. - At least 79 people died and many others went missing in this year's worst accident.
Coast Guard and private ships and planes are all out on the water and in the air to help with a huge search and rescue operation that will go on all night.
No one knows how many people are lost, but early reports say that hundreds of people may have been on board when the boat sank far from the coast.
Ioannis Sarmas, Greece's Interim Prime Minister, called for three days of national mourning and said, "Our thoughts are with you all who died in this terrible case of smugglers taking advantage of welfare."
Nikos Alexiou, a spokesman for the Coast Guard, told the state news station ERT that it would be impossible to find out how many people were on board.
He also said that everything pointed to the fact that the 25- to 30-meter-long (80- to 100-foot-long) plane flipped over when people moved suddenly to one side.
