The passenger reported some 300 refugees were on board the vessel, in a maritime area southeast of Pylos. Both the Greek and Italian Coast Guards were mobilized, along with private ships in the area and are currently searching for the refugees.
The weather conditions are not favorable, with rain and wind speeds measuring 5 on the Beaufort scale. So far efforts to locate the refugee vessel have failed.
Meanwhile, the mayor of the Aegean Island of Lesvos, that has been a major entry point towards Europe, plead on Tuesday for the transfer of a large number of refugees and migrants from the island to mainland Greece, warning that conditions in the centers are “particularly worrying and dangerous”, in an urgent letter to the Alternate Minister for Migration Policy Yiannis Mouzalas.
“We were witnesses to extensive fights inside the first reception center in Moria, with dozens of injured [migrants] and images that were broadcasted by many media, which are unfair considering the burden we have been called to carry all this time” Spyros Galinos said.
Similar requests have been expressed by other mayors of the Aegean Islands.