AT LEAST 78 people have died and hundreds more are presumed dead following a shipwreck off the coast of Greece in the early hours of this morning.

Greek authorities said today that the coastguard, navy and merchant vessels had rescued 104 people from a capsized fishing boat 45 miles south-west of the Peloponnese peninsula.

The passengers, the authorities believe, set sail from Libya’s north-east coast several days ago, in the hope of reaching safety in Italy.

Alarm Phone, an activist network that runs a hotline for people in distress at sea and Europe’s borders, was contacted by passengers aboard a boat in a similar area to the shipwreck on Tuesday afternoon.

Over several poorly connected phone calls, the distressed managed to tell Alarm Phone activists that their boat was not moving, that they were in need of food and water, that their captain had left them on a small boat, and that they could not survive the night.

It took several attempts for the activists to obtain the boat’s GPS position. But once they did, around 16:53, Alarm Phone said it alerted the Greek and other European maritime authorities to the boat’s position, as well as Frontex, the European Union’s controversial Border and Coastguard Agency.

Around 6pm, Alarm Phone contacted the shipping company of the Lucky Sailor, a merchant vessel that passed nearby to the stranded. The company told Alarm Phone that it can only act under the authority of the Greek coastguard.

Two hours later, the distressed told Alarm Phone that the Lucky Sailor’s crew had given them water.

Alarm Phone’s last contact with the boat came at 00:46 this morning. In it, the organisation said: All we hear is: ‘Hello my friend ... The ship you send is ...’ The call cuts.”

It is not yet clear if this boat is the same one found by the Greek coastguards.

Alarm Phone said in a statement today that the authorities could have sent out adequate rescue resources to the 750 people in distress.

“They failed to do so because their desire to prevent arrivals was stronger than the need to rescue hundreds of lives.”