Up to 500 people are missing after an overcrowded fishing boat carrying migrants capsized in the Mediterranean Sea, the United Nations has said.
Seventy-eight people are known to have died after the vessel got into difficulty and sank off the coast of Greece in the early hours of Wednesday.
Speaking at a briefing in Geneva on Friday, a spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said: “The high commissioner expressed his condolences to those who have lost loved ones – 78 people are known to have died and up to 500 are missing, among them large numbers of women and children.”
Greek authorities had already confirmed they recovered 78 bodies and rescued 104 men.
It is not known exactly how many people were on the boat, but the charity Alarm Phone, which received several distress calls, said it was around 750.
There have been no women or children rescued so far, with many fearing they were trapped on the lower deck and dragged down into the water when the boat sank.