'Waiting for people to die': Brother of missing man in Greek boat tragedy criticises rescue response

Mohammed Younis, who has travelled to Greece to find his brother, spoke to ITV News correspondent Romilly Weeks of his desperate search

A man who has travelled to Greece to discover if his brother survived the sinking of a overcrowded migrant ship in the Mediterranean Sea has said he believes coastguard authorities should have done more to help before the vessel capsized.

The boat was estimated to have been carrying 750 people, and as many as 500 are feared to have died, according to the International Organisation for Migration.

The trawler was travelling from Libya to Italy before it sank off the coast of Greece in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

Mohammed Younis, from Bradford, joined other relatives of those missing in travelling to the southern Greek port city of Kalamata.

Some 104 survivors - all men and boys - had been taken to the city, but have now been moved to an asylum centre north of Athens.

Romilly Weeks reports from Kalamata where relatives of those still missing have gathered to find answers

The Greek coast guard said the search and rescue operation would be extended beyond the standard 72 hours.

Rescuers later recovered 78 bodies but have not located any more since late Wednesday.

Greek authorities have been criticised for not acting quickly enough to rescue the migrants, after it was revealed a coast guard vessel escorted the ship for hours, before watching on as it sank.

Authorities have argued that the migrants repeatedly refused assistance and insisted on continuing their journey to Italy.

Mr Younis told ITV News he believes Greek authorities "didn't do anything" to help the situation and were "waiting" for people to die.

He explained the heartbreaking impact the incident has had on his family as they continue to face uncertainty over his brother's whereabouts.

"Everybody cried, we can't say anything, we can't speak to them," he said.

"How can I say my brother has died? I can't say that. If I say that, people say, my cousin, sister said 'Don't say that'.

"When my wife and sisters ring me, she said 'Don't say that please'... because it's good person."

Mr Younis' brother has four children and he admitted he has not yet told them about the incident. He added: "When they ring me I said 'Yesterday, I spoke to him'."

The scale of the disaster put fresh pressure on both the Greek government and the European Union to find a solution to the migrant crisis. The UN's migration and refugee agencies issued a joint statement calling timely maritime search and rescues “a legal and humanitarian imperative” and calling for “urgent and decisive action to prevent further deaths at sea".

Adriana Tidona, of Amnesty International, said: “The Greek government had specific responsibilities toward every passenger on the vessel, which was clearly in distress.

"This is a tragedy of unimaginable proportions, all the more so because it was entirely preventable.” Pope Francis, who was discharged from a Rome hospital Friday nine days after undergoing abdominal surgery, urged European governments to do more to protect people making these crossings.

He tweeted: “I feel great pain at the death of the migrants, including many children, in the shipwreck.

“We must do everything possible so that migrants fleeing war and poverty do not meet death while seeking a future of hope.”Delivering some sharper criticism, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said: “Let’s be clear. This is not a Greek problem. This is a European problem.

"I think it’s time for Europe to be able, in solidarity, to define an effective migration policy for these kinds of situations not to happen again." The EU's executive commission says the 27-nation bloc is close to an agreement on how member countries can share responsibility in caring for migrants and refugees who undertake the dangerous journey across the Mediterranean. Coast guard spokesperson Nikos Alexiou said coast guard and private vessels followed the vessel in international waters before it sank.

Repeated offers of assistance were rejected in radio communications with the vessel and well as calls made over a loudspeaker, he said. Alexiou denied reports of survivors saying a patrol boat had tried to tow the fishing boat. A judicial investigation is underway into the causes of the sinking, with Greek officials claiming the vessel capsized minutes after it lost power, speculating that panic among passengers may have toppled the boat over.

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