Families of dead migrants share anger over OceanGate rescue effort 

Hundreds of migrants still missing 2 weeks after shipwreck


Niamh Cavanagh
·Reporter
Updated Tue, June 27, 2023

The relatives of migrants who were on a boat that capsized in the Mediterranean Sea on June 14 expressed their frustration and disbelief at the millions of dollars spent trying to recover the OceanGate submersible that had gone missing in the Atlantic Ocean while trying to visit the Titanic shipwreck, the Guardian reported.

Anees Majeed’s relatives were just five of the roughly 750 people who were aboard the overcrowded fishing vessel. Many of those on board, like Majeed’s family, were from Pakistan. Just days after the migrant boat sank, news broke of the missing submersible, which had five passengers — each of whom had paid $250,000 for the experience.

A multimillion-dollar rescue effort was launched, making headlines across the world even though the passengers had signed waivers acknowledging that the vessel was “experimental” and that death was a possibility. Meanwhile, in the days after the migrant boat sank, the Greek Coast Guard was accused of causing the vessel to capsize.

An aerial view of the boat carrying migrants before it sank, in Kalamata, Greece, on June 14. (Greek Coast Guard/Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Speaking to the Guardian, Majeed said: “We were shocked to know that millions would be spent on this rescue mission. They used all resources, and so much news came out from this search. But they did not bother to search for hundreds of Pakistanis and other people who were on the Greek boat.”
Why it matters

The discrepancy between the efforts and attention brought to the two tragedies has prompted a discussion on the inequality experienced by the world’s poor. At least 500 people who were on the migrant fishing boat are still missing. According to reports, there were between 50 and 100 children on board.

Rear Adm. John Mauger of the Coast Guard at a news conference about the missing Titan submersible. (Fatih Aktas/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Similar cases have happened before. In 2021, a nongovernmental organization accused the British and French coast guards of ignoring distress calls from people on a dinghy that sank in the English Channel. Twenty-seven people drowned.

According to U.N. stats, over 27,000 people are estimated to have disappeared or died while crossing the Mediterranean in the last nine years, making it the most dangerous migrant crossing in the world. But the route remains essential for those looking to Northern and Western Europe in the hopes of escaping poverty and war.