Brothers reunite after migrant ship capsizes, bringing a brief reprieve from grief in Greece

After three days of unwavering grief in the wake of what may prove to be one of the deadliest European shipwrecks in modern times, a moment of euphoria flickered on the cement and steel port of Kalamata in southern Greece.

Fadi, a Syrian-born Palestinian who lives in the Netherlands, arrived at dawn, and through the gates of the port, spotted the teenage sibling he feared had died. The two young men burst into tears as Fadi reached his arms through the gate, grasping his younger brother's scratched and battered face in his hands and kissing it.

"Thank God you're safe," Fadi said in Arabic. 

Mohammad, 18, is one of the 100 or so migrants rescued from a boat that capsized early Wednesday morning off the coast of Greece. He was among the men on the deck who were able to stay afloat until the Greek coast guard pulled them to safety.

But even the glimmer of good news Friday as the brothers reunited was accompanied by anguish. Fadi's brother survived, but his brother-in-law was on the boat, too.

"He was also in Libya for a couple of years, held in a warehouse, with no documents, no telephone, no contact," said Fadi, who didn't want to give his last name.

Reports suggested between 400 and 750 people were on board, including many women and children that survivors say were trapped below, disappearing with the boat as it sank in an area of the Mediterranean Sea that can run five kilometres deep. Authorities said at least 78 people had died and hundreds more were missing. 

In an attempt to discover his brother-in-law's fate, Fadi joined dozens of other men in front of the Port Authority in Kalamata on Friday. Most are migrants themselves who now live throughout Europe.

There, in the hot sun, they waited their turn to learn if their brother, brother-in-law, cousin or countryman was on the list of those rescued. Or whether they had to make a report for a missing person.

"Nothing, no news," said Pakistani Anzeem Anzar, emerging from the Port Authority office with a friend who's looking for his brother. "He gave them the address, DNA, photo, telephone number, what he wore, bracelets, anything." 

Some came to Kalamata as emissaries of communities in Pakistan, Syria and Egypt, where most people on the boat hail from.

Mohamed Shabaam, part of an Egyptian association in Greece, arrived in Kalamata with a list of dozens of names and photos of young men that parents, wives and siblings had sent after hearing about the ship capsizing through social media.

Based on messages from Egyptians, he says about 115 men from his country were on the boat. Seventy-five of them alone were from the small town of El Batanun, north of Cairo.

"It's a big problem, this mafia that plays with the minds of young men, they make them believe in a beautiful future, to go to Libya and then Europe, and it's a monkey game, really," said Shabaam.