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A meeting between President Biden and Xi Jinping in Bali in November briefly eased fears of a new Cold War, but since the balloon incident high-level communication between the two leaders has been rare.

coastguard on Thursday

A government spokesperson later said the coastguard had attempted to board the boat to assess the danger but that those on board removed a rope that been attached and did not want help.

All of the shipping activity of the past seven hours between was focused around one specific spot, suggesting the migrant boat had hardly moved.

The scale of the animated map suggests it travelled less than a few nautical miles, which may be expected of a stricken vessel buffeted by the wind and the waves in the deepest part of the Mediterranean Sea.

The actions of people in distress, rocking the vessel, would also have contributed any movement.

During this time period, Greek officials have insisted it was not in trouble and was instead safely on its way to Italy and so the coastguard didn’t attempt a rescue.

At 23:00, the boat sank with hundreds on board and the tracking animation shows a frenzy of ships coming to help.

This included the Celebrity Beyond from which footage of the aftermath of the disaster was filmed and later sent to the BBC.

A luxury yacht, the Mayan Queen, is then instructed to help take some of the 104 survivors ashore.

Those rescued reached the safety at the port of Kalamata but left behind a series of troubling questions about the whole Greek response.

Source: BBC