At least 79 people died after a migrant boat carrying hundreds of people sank off the Greek coast in the early hours of Wednesday, that country's Coast Guard said.
A total of 104 migrants who were traveling on the boat have since been rescued from the water and transferred to the city of Kalamata. The Coast Guard said the search and rescue operation will stop once it's dark in the area and will continue with the first light of day Thursday.
The International Organization for Migration earlier tweeted that it believed that there were "up to 400 people" onboard. The NGO Alarm Phone said it first received a call from the boat Tuesday afternoon and that it was "difficult to communicate with the distressed," who said that they could not survive the night.
The last time Alarm Phone was able to contact the boat was just before 1 a.m. local time on Wednesday morning. According to Alarm Phone, all that could be heard was "Hello my friend … The ship you send is …" before the call cut off.
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