Greek authorities defensive over migrant boat capsize as death toll will likely pass 500

The Greek coast guard defended its response to a ship that sank off the country's south coast, killing more than 500 migrants, as anger grew over Europe's long-standing failure to avert similar catastrophes.

Patrol boats and a helicopter spent a third day searching the Mediterranean Sea location where the overcrowded trawler capsized early Wednesday, in what is being described as the second-worst incident of its kind in recorded history.

A spokesman for the Greek coast guard told the press that the coast guard as well as private ships had been continuously offering assistance to the vessel on Wednesday while it was en route to Italy from Libya, however, he said that these calls were rejected.

The spokesman also stated that after taking food from a commercial ship, the migrant boat's passengers refused a rope carrying additional food from a second merchant ship "because they thought the whole process was a way for us to take them to Greece."

Multiple sources have told the press that the migrants on board were “very hesitant” to receive assistance, while legal experts have stated that maritime law had obliged the Greek authorities to try to rescue the migrants.

The migrants’ reluctance to accept assistance could have been overruled if this was deemed unreasonable, the experts explain.

Meanwhile, calls by NGOs addressed to the EU were made on Saturday, claiming that the bloc should refrain from only dismantling smuggling networks, and work to set up search-and-rescue operations across the Mediterranean.

According to the EU's executive commission, the bloc is close to reaching an agreement on how its member states may share responsibility for accepting migrants and refugees making the perilous crossing over the Mediterranean.

A judicial examination investigating the causes of the disaster is also ongoing. According to Greek officials, the vessel capsized minutes after losing power, and fear among the passengers may have led the boat to lean and roll over.

The majority of the survivors were being transferred Friday from a storage hangar in the southern port of Kalamata, where families had also gathered to search for loved ones, to migrant shelters near Athens.