Finding more survivors on capsized boat increasingly unlikely

It is increasingly unlikely that more survivors will be found from the boat that capsized off Cape Greco following the retrieval of seven bodies, Defence Minister Vasilis Palmas said on Tuesday.

Rescue teams pulled two survivors from the sea on Monday. The boat was believed to be carrying around 20 Syrians and was found about 25 nautical miles off Cape Greco.

Palmas said the search is ongoing, “despite the fact that the messages for locating them are very pessimistic, since many hours have passed and reason says no more survivors will be found.”

“According to experts, 40 hours in the sea in temperatures of 16C to 17C is the maximum a human can survive and thus as the hours pass and no more survivors are found, it is most likely that at some point more bodies will be found,” he added.

More details surrounding the tragedy are expected as experts examine the backpacks of seven found dead and speak to the two survivors.

Palmas also defended the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre (JRCC) actions.

“An NGO contacted JRCC on March 16 to report a boat in the sea.” Palmas said.

“Immediately, a port police vessel, a National Guard drone and a helicopter went to the area to determine if the information was right, however the search did not produce anything,” he said.

The defence minister added that “at around 1pm on Monday, March 17, in the framework of a routine port police and National Guard navy patrol in international waters, a person in the sea was found by chance.”

The survivor was brought to safety and another survivor was found nearby an hour and a quarter later.
“Unfortunately, another seven people were found dead at sea and were taken to the Limassol general hospital morgue.”

He added that on Tuesday “we expect to shed more light on this tragic incident, with the testimonies to be given by the two survivors, who will be in a position to speak.”

On Monday, the survivors were “in shock and distressed and the information they were giving us was incoherent”.

The precise number of people on board has not yet been verified and may be between 20 and 25.
The survivors’ testimonies are expected to answer questions, such as “where they came from, their destination, if they were coming to Cyprus or going elsewhere.”

It is still not clear if the people on board the capsized boat were all Syrians, however “there is a big chance they were”, Palmas said.

There are also speculations regarding the age of the people, who were most likely between 25 and 30 years of age and probably all men.

“This will also be clarified by the testimonies of the two survivors,” Palmas said.The testimonies will be taken at the Larnaca and Famagusta hospitals, where the survivors are being treated.

Palmas also said the autopsies on those found dead were possibly to be carried out on Tuesday.“We will try to find evidence in the backpacks of these unfortunate young people to determine their identity and find out if they had relatives and where they came from,” Palmas added.

The defence minister said all information received is “taken seriously into consideration, either from NGOs or other sources.”

“There is a volatile situation in the region […] and we must be alert,” he added.

Earlier on Tuesday, deputy commander of the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre (JRRC), admiral George Economou said “the search to locate the missing people continued all through the night with unabated intensity in a gigantic operation.”

A helicopter, boats and a drone from the National Guard, a helicopter and boats from the coast guard and marine police, Okypy nurses from the Ambulance Service and police personnel are operating in the area under the coordination of the JRRC. Helicopters from the 84 Squadron Akrotiri British base and passing commercial vessels are also participating in the operation.

“Our main concern is to find more survivors, after the two who were located yesterday (Monday) and the recovery of seven dead from the shipwreck,” Economou said.

“The bodies of seven men were taken to the Limassol general hospital morgue, while the two survivors are being treated at the general hospitals of Larnaca and Famagusta, as they are in distress, dehydrated and in a state of hypothermia.”“They are unable to say anything at this time,” Economou said.

The admiral said the search would continue in an effort to “exhaust every possibility of finding those missing, alive or dead”, however he pointed out that “time is not on our side”.

He added that any information obtained by the JRCC was investigated and if necessary helicopters and vessels were sent out, so far covering “a massive sea area southeast of Cyprus”.

Economou said all means at the centre’s disposal were being used, including thermal cameras and satellite pictures.Invited to comment on a post on X by an NGO that it had informed of the shipwreck on Sunday but there had been no response and stipulations that the boat had capsized up to four days ago, Economou said all information received was carefully evaluated and every piece of information was investigated.

On Monday afternoon, a meeting was held at the JRCC in Larnaca during which Palmas and Justice Minister Marios Hartsiotis were informed about the progress of the investigations.

Hartsiotis said the patrol of the port police vessel was outside the territorial waters of Cyprus, in international waters, but he added that the JRCC’s scope extends to the FIR of the Republic of Cyprus, which reaches and enters in some cases the territorial waters of Syria and Lebanon.