ATHENS — “Shame” is the single-word headline with an exclamation point that one Greek daily newspaper printed across a photo that captures a rickety fishing boat packed to the gunwales with illegal migrants just before it capsized Wednesday, leaving at least 79 dead with hundreds more now feared missing.

“Mediterranean Death Voyage,” another headline screamed. Greece, a country of long, lazy summers and superyachts, is in shock. On Thursday, rescuers transferred the bodies of dead migrants to refrigerated trucks as a major search continued for possible survivors of one of the worst disasters in the Mediterranean Sea on record.

Murmurs coming from Greece’s powerful Ministry of Shipping on Thursday indicated that as many as 750 people could have been packed inside the doomed vessel. Also, seven migrant smugglers, all Egyptian, have been identified. The vessel reportedly sailed from the Libyan coast before possibly running into engine trouble in international waters south of the Greek city of Pylos.

The catastrophe sent shockwaves across Athens just as the busy summer tourism kicked off, with cruise ships regularly plying the same Mediterranean waters where the fishing vessel foundered, listed to one side under excess weight, capsized, and sank. Greece declared three days of mourning and politicians suspended campaigning for a general election on June 25. A Supreme Court prosecutor ordered an investigation into the circumstances of the deaths. 

There is also growing anger in Greece at the inability of the European Union to tackle the seemingly insurmountable problem of illegal immigration by sea. The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, said in a tweet that she was “deeply saddened” by the tragedy and promised to strengthen cooperation between the European Union and nearby countries to try to further crack down on migrant smugglers.

That, though, has not worked so far — nor has anything else — and the lack of clear thinking from Ms. von der Leyen’s desk at Brussels might be exacerbating the problem. Human rights groups contend that clamping down on human traffickers simply means migrants and refugees are being forced to take longer and more dangerous routes to reach safe countries.

That would appear to be the case in Wednesday’s disaster. It occurred south of Greece’s Peloponnese region, in waters that this correspondent can attest are both deep and surprisingly cold, even at this time of year. As of Thursday, 29 survivors of the wreck remained hospitalized with symptoms of hypothermia. 

While Greek rescuers have risen to a complex challenge and saved 109 passengers so far — including Egyptians, Syrians, Pakistanis, Afghans, and Palestinians — officials are leaving no doubt that hundreds of people were likely trapped below deck when the boat went down. If this is confirmed, it will make the tragedy one of the worst ever recorded in the central portion of the Mediterranean Sea. 

About the ramshackle vessel itself, a retired Greek coast guard admiral, Nikos Spanos, had this to say to Greece’s ERT television: “We have seen old fishing boats like this before from Libya: They … can carry 600-700 people when crammed full. But they are not at all seaworthy. To put it simply, they are floating coffins.”

The AP reported that an aerial photograph of the vessel before it sank that was released by Greek authorities showed persons crammed on the deck, and most were not wearing life jackets.

Greece’s coast guard said it was notified by Italian authorities of the trawler’s presence in international waters but that its efforts to help the troubled vessel were rejected. Those on board reportedly insisted they wanted to go straight to their desired destination, Italy.

For now, though, and for all of the EU’s twittering about being saddened and the need for cohesion in respect of the sea migrant crisis, this is Greece’s problem. 

Greek newspapers reported that rescuers found only men in the sea, many already having drowned. According to these testimonials, women and children had been locked up below deck. The chances of finding any survivors is now diminishing by the hour.

Political life in Greece has been paralyzed just 10 days before a national election. If none of this is a wake-up call for the bumbling European Union to do something beyond simply scheduling more meetings, what is?