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The death toll from this year's deadliest migrant shipwreck off the coast of Greece has grown to 59, with hundreds still missing, according to officials.

The victims, almost all of whom were men from Afghanistan and Pakistan, died when their boat capsized off the coast of the southern Peloponnese. The ship, which was carrying several hundred individuals, had set sail from eastern Libya for Italy. It was unclear whether it was a cargo ship or a fishing trawler.

“There has been a dramatic rise in the death count, which is climbing by the hour,” said one official, adding that, "speculation is rife that as many as 600 people were onboard but that has not been confirmed. The ship is under the water. It has sunk.” He reported that around 104 passengers had been rescued as of Wednesday afternoon.

Unprecedented scenes in Kalamata, the Peloponnesian town where the dead and injured, were reported by Greece's public broadcaster, ERT.

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The search for survivors included coastguard vessels, a navy frigate, military transport planes, an air force helicopter, and a variety of private ships. Strong winds initially impeded rescue efforts.

Greek authorities and officials from the EU border agency Frontex were notified late Tuesday about the damaged ship. The boat was first sighted in international waters around 50 miles southwest of the town of Pylos in southern Greece by a helicopter operated by Frontex agents who have increased patrols in the frontline country.

Smugglers are taking more risks to avoid detection. They are increasingly using international seaways to deliver their human cargo to Italy rather than strongly guarded Greece.

“We are seeing growing numbers plying open seas that are more dangerous because they are prone to more stormy weather,” said Natassa Strachimi, a lawyer with Refugee Support Aegean, an NGO that provides legal aid to asylum seekers. “And the journeys are taking much longer because the destination is Italy.”

Read next: Italy recovers 8 bodies, including pregnant woman, from migrant boat

In a separate instance, a rescue operation was underway off the coast of Crete on Wednesday after a yacht carrying more than 80 migrants was hauled to a port in the island's south. Greece has been chastised for forcibly expelling asylum seekers in violation of international law.

Its former center-right administration, which is up for re-election later this month, has refuted the "push-backs," describing its migration policy as "tough but fair."

Last month, a video surfaced showing refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos being forcibly loaded on a Greek coastguard vessel before being left adrift and picked up by the Turkish coastguard.

As the scope of the tragedy became clear, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the country's prime minister until May, and major opposition socialist leader Alexis Tsipras stated they would pause their electoral campaigns.

According to UN estimates, over 72,000 refugees and migrants have arrived in the Mediterranean countries of Italy, Spain, Greece, Malta, and Cyprus so far this year. Greece has traditionally served as a major transit point for individuals fleeing war, persecution, and poverty in the Middle East, Asia, and Africa.