<div><span style="font-size: 1rem;"><b>Survivors from a fishing boat that sank off southern Greece in one of Europe's worst migrant disasters say up to 100 children may have been on board.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>At least 78 people have already been confirmed dead in the disaster.</div><div><br></div><div>But scores more could still be missing at sea, with reports suggesting that up to 750 people were aboard the vessel.</div><div><br></div><div>The country's coastguard has been criticised for not intervening earlier but authorities say their offers of aid were refused.</div><div><br></div><div>Rescuers are still scouring the seas off Greece in a massive search operation, as hopes of finding more survivors dwindle.</div><div><br></div><div>Shocking accounts of a large number of women and children travelling in the hold of the ship have come via medics who treated the mostly male survivors.</div><div><br></div><div>The senior doctor at Kalamata General Hospital who treated survivors of Wednesday's shipwreck has told the BBC as many as 100 children were on the vessel.</div><div><br></div><div>Dr Manolis Makaris, head of cardiology, said: "They (the survivors) told us that there were children in the bottom of the ship. Children and women."</div><div><br></div><div>He said two patients had given him estimated figures.</div><div>"One told me about 100 children, the other about 50, so I don't know the truth - but it is many," he added.</div><div><br></div><div>He and his team have been using mobile phones to communicate with those who had been brought to safety.</div><div><br></div><div>The doctor said the 30 patients he treated would all survive, having been treated for hyperthermia, pneumonia and dehydration.</div><div><br></div><div>Dr Makaris said he believed as many as 600 people could have died in the disaster.</div><div><br></div><div>"The exact number of all the people who were on the boat was 750. This is the exact number that everyone told me about this," he added.</div><div><br></div><div>Dr Makaris said families of some Egyptian children who were missing had sent him photographs of their young relatives, in the hope he would recognise them after treating them.</div><div><br></div><div>"It was a tragedy," he said. "Everyone in Europe must not accept this situation. We have to do something. Everyone has to do something so it doesn't happen again."</div><div><br></div><div>A reporter from Greece's ANT1 channel asked a survivor if there were 100 children on board, to which the survivor replied: "Yes."</div><div><br></div><div>The charity Save the Children, citing testimonies from survivors, also gave the same number. The BBC has not been able to independently verify this figure.</div><div><br></div><div>But Greek government spokesman Ilias Siakantaris said there were unconfirmed reports that up to 750 people in total were on the boat.</div><div><br></div><div>"We do not know what was in the hold... but we know that several smugglers lock people up to maintain control," he told public broadcaster ERT.</div><div>Families of some of the missing have arrived in Kalamata in search of their loved ones.</div><div><br></div><div>"My relatives were on the boat," said Aftab, who had travelled from the UK and said at least four of his relatives from Pakistan were unaccounted for.</div><div><br></div><div>"We've had confirmation. We found one of the relatives in [the rescue centre]. But the others we haven't got hold of yet," he told the BBC.</div><div><br></div><div>A Syrian man from the Netherlands broke down as he revealed his wife and brother-in-law were missing.</div><div><br></div><div>Activist Nawal Soufi was the first to raise the alarm after being contacted by people on the boat on Tuesday morning. She also believes around 750 people were on board.</div><div><br></div><div>The boat went down about 80km (50 miles) south-west of Pylos after 02:04 on Wednesday morning local time, according to the Greek coastguard.</div><div><br></div><div>A timeline provided by the coastguard said that initial contact was made with the fishing boat at 14:00 (11:00 GMT) the previous day, and no request for help had been made.</div><div><br></div><div>It said the Greek shipping ministry had made repeated contact with the boat and was told it simply wanted to sail on to Italy. A Maltese-flagged ship provided food and water at around 18:00, and another boat provided water three hours after that, it added.</div><div><br></div><div>Then at around 01:40 on Wednesday, someone on the boat is said to have notified the Greek coastguard that the vessel's engine had malfunctioned.</div><div><br></div><div>Shortly afterwards, the boat capsized, taking only 10 to 15 minutes to sink completely. A search and rescue operation was triggered but complicated by strong winds.</div><div><br></div><div>A coastguard spokesman told ERT that the boat's engine broke down in the early hours of Wednesday, then people on board started to move around causing it to capsize. He said everyone rescued was male, according to media reports</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>