Anger among Greek shipwreck victims' kin over millions spent on Titan sub rescue

Families of the victims of the Greek migrant shipwreck have expressed anger over the millions of dollars spent in the search for the submersible that went missing during a dive towards the Titanic wreck. On June 14, a fishing boat with a capacity of 400 people had over 700 people on board when it sank. Eighty-two people died in the tragedy. At least 350 Pakistanis were aboard the migrant boat, the government said last Friday (June 23).

According to a report by The Guardian on Sunday (June 25), Majeed from Pakistan grieved at funeral prayers without a body to bury. His cousins were among those in the migrant boat. Majeed's family is now tormented by rising evidence that European authorities knew the boat was in trouble but did not intervene.

As the family began mourning, several countries joined search efforts for the Titan submersible which had five men on board. The Titan was found in pieces from a "catastrophic implosion" that killed everyone, the US Coast Guard said last Thursday.

'Shocked to know millions were spent on Titan rescue'

Speaking to The Guardian, Majeed, a law student, 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," Majeed added.

A Pakistani journalist, who did not wish to be identified, told the publication, “It’s not the fault of five men that hundreds of people died off Greek shores. But it is the fault of a system where the class disparities are so huge.”

Abdul Karim, a Pakistani shopkeeper, who lost his uncle and cousin in the migrant boat tragedy, said that he came to know that a submarine carrying five reach people was given more coverage than the migrants on the Greek boat.

“Millions of dollars must have been spent to rescue the rich, but for the poor, there’s no such opportunity. Even the Pakistani government was not paying any heed to the issue," Karim added.

Titan sub had more coverage than Greek shipwreck: Obama

Last week, former United States president Barack Obama said that search operations for the Titan submersible had more coverage than the Greek migrant shipwreck.

Obama was speaking at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation conference in Greece before news broke that the Titan submersible imploded.

"I mean you think about what's happening this week, there's a potential tragedy unfolding with a submarine that is getting, you know, minute-to-minute coverage, all around the world, and it's understandable because obviously we all want and pray that those folks are rescued.But the fact that that's gotten so much more attention than 700 people who sank is, that's an untenable situation, and the notion that we can't do something about that is simply not true, and we know we can do something about it," he said.

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