How did the search for a sunken migrant vessel off Greece compare with the efforts to find the Titan?
Questions about resources used in search for adventurers and rescue of migrants
Two dramatic and tragic stories unfolded at sea within days of one another, but the intrigue and focus on the search-and-rescue mission for the Titan — a privately owned and operated submersible that ferried wealthy adventurers to the wreck of the Titanic — eclipsed that of what could be the worst migrant boat disaster on record in the Mediterranean Sea.
People on social media have shared posts questioning why there was a rapid, multinational and multi-day search for the Titan, which disappeared on June 18, while the distressed migrant vessel languished at sea for hours before capsizing on June 14.
As many as 750 adults and children, from poor or war-torn countries, may have been on the migrant vessel before it sank, but only 104 survived. At least 82 bodies have been recovered so far.
There were five people on board the Titan, which the U.S. Coast Guard said on Thursday sustained a "catastrophic implosion."
There have been suggestions on social media that the lives of people who can afford an exorbitant adventure to the bottom of the ocean, at a cost of $250,000 US, are worth more than hundreds of migrants from places like Pakistan and Syria risking their lives at sea.
The world we live in…<br><br>5 billionaires on an adventure, lost in the depths of the ocean = <br>24 hour news coverage + an international $ multimillion search and rescue mission.<br><br>Hundreds of desperate migrants seeking refuge, lost at sea =<br>Barely a mention in the news, rescuers… <a href="https://t.co/4sQcyH3xWG">pic.twitter.com/4sQcyH3xWG</a>
—@cwebbonlineUnited Nations spokesperson Farhan Haq addressed such claims at a press conference on Thursday, saying "all lives are precious" and all efforts to save people must be made in both situations.
"Any measures to protect people's lives ... whether they are on a ship being piloted by human smugglers or whether they're on a submersible device such as this one, all of them must, must be cared for," Haq said prior to the announcement of the Titan's remnants being discovered.
What happened to the migrant boat?
Like many other smuggling vessels ferrying migrants across the Mediterranean Sea, largely from the coast of Libya to European shores, the fishing boat was packed with far more people than it was meant to carry.
CBC's Megan Williams met family members of missing migrants who travelled to Kalamata, Greece, immediately after the boat sank, in hopes of finding their loved ones among survivors.
Williams spoke with one man who travelled from Barcelona after learning his brother was on the boat. He said he showed a photo of his brother to survivors, who told him that the brother had helped save the lives of other migrants but lost his own. The man told Williams he heard from survivors claiming the Greek Coast Guard threw bottles of water to the people on board the vessel but did nothing else to help.
Greece's prime minister refuted accusations that not enough was done to help the migrants on the foundering vessel.
Greek authorities said the vessel, which they had been monitoring for about 15 hours, flipped and capsized about 25 minutes after its engine stalled in the early hours of June 14.
They have said occupants of the vessel repeatedly refused offers of assistance, though international agencies, including Amnesty International, have called for greater clarity from Greece over the tragedy and whether enough was done to prevent it.
A question of resources
In contrast, Canadian and U.S. Coast Guard and military assets were mobilized to search for the Titan in the hours after it lost contact with its mothership on Sunday, nearly 700 kilometres southeast of Newfoundland.
Private vessels also joined the efforts, and equipment capable of reaching the depth of the Titanic wreck was sent from as far away as France.
"In this case, you have five people who chose to go down. They knew the risks. They did it for tourism," British oceanographer Simon Boxall told CBC News Network in an interview on Thursday, saying he found the disparity "concerning."
"There have been so many deaths around the Mediterranean. We should be focusing on that. If we put those resources into that, think of the number of lives we could have saved," he said.
It now appears the U.S. navy picked up a sound on Sunday that it says was consistent with an undersea implosion, meaning the Titan's passengers would never have been found alive despite the resources put into the rescue mission.
Thousands of migrants die at sea each year
The disaster off the coast of Greece is not the first deadly incident involving migrant boats bound for Europe — and it wasn't even the last one this month.
At least 30 people are feared to have drowned after a dinghy sank while trying to traverse the crossing from Morocco to Spain's Canary Islands on Wednesday, though Spanish officials said more than 220 people were rescued.
Last year, there were more than 2,700 deaths along sea routes from the Middle East and North Africa to Europe. There were more than 3,000 in 2021, according to the International Organization for Migration.
One of the deadliest incidents, prior to this month's disaster, happened in April 2015, when more than 400 people were believed to have drowned when a boat bound for the Italian island of Lampedusa sank off the coast of Libya.
The European Union's migration and home affairs commissioner, Ylva Johansson, warned this week that there has been a 600 per cent increase in migrants along the route from eastern Libya to Italy, saying much more needs to be done.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
With files from Megan Williams, Reuters and The Associated Press