At least 79 drown, hundreds could be missing in migrant shipwreck off Greece

A fishing boat carrying migrants trying to reach Europe capsized and sank Wednesday off the coast of Greece, leaving at least 79 dead and many more missing in one of the worst disasters of its kind this year.

Coast guard, navy and merchant vessels and aircraft fanned out for a vast search-and-rescue operation set to continue overnight. It was unclear how many passengers were missing, but some initial reports suggested hundreds of people may have been aboard when the boat went down far from shore.

Coast guard spokesman Nikos Alexiou told state ERT TV that it was impossible to accurately estimate the number of passengers. He said it appeared that the 25- to 30-meter (80- to 100-foot) vessel capsized after people abruptly moved to one side.

"The outer deck was full of people, and we presume that the interior (of the vessel) would also have been full," he said. "It...