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STORY: When a fishing trawler capsized off Greece a year ago, killing hundreds of migrants, Egyptian electrician Mahmoud Shalabi was the only person from his hometown to survive.

Sixteen friends from his neighborhood outside Cairo were never found.

A year on, no independent investigation has been completed into the coast guard's role and no one has been held accountable.

The Egyptians' relatives call him daily for news he can't give them, says Shalabi, who is seeking asylum in Athens.

"No one is accepting that they might be dead because they still haven't heard any news about them or know anything about them. Some people call their son's phone and it rings - their thinking is, how is it that his phone is in the sea and how is that the phone rings and people answer? There are people answering the phones and in a foreign language, not Arabic."

The disaster on June 14 off southwestern Greece sent shockwaves across Europe and beyond.

About 700 people were estimated to be on board; 104 survived and 82 corpses were recovered.

The rest are missing.

Survivors say the authorities caused the boat to capsize when they tried to tow it.

But authorities say the boat refused assistance.

Greece's coastguard was monitoring the migrant ship and, though the ship sent out distress signals, took many hours to respond.

It was one of the worst recorded boat disasters in the Mediterranean and it raised questions about the European Union's tactics to stem the flow of migrants from Africa and the Middle East.

Eleni Spathana, a lawyer representing dozens of survivors, called the sinking "a crime" that resulted from increasingly tough deterrent measures.

"One year after the tragic Pylos shipwreck the basic questions regarding the criminal omissions and actions of the Greek authorities and the Greek coastguard remain unanswered. Serious omissions and actions referring to the violation of all the regulations of international law and the national law regarding rescue at sea.”

Greek authorities for months blamed nine Egyptians on board, but they were released last month when a Greek court dismissed the case.

The focus of investigations is now likely to fall on the coast guard, legal experts said.

The coast guard declined to comment.

Shalabi says the relatives need answers.

"It's their right - the least is that they put their minds to rest and inform them of all the information. But right now they've left them, not knowing whether they are among the deceased or whether they are imprisoned, they don't know anything about them at all - this is not just or humane. That's what I think - I think it's about humanity. Families are being tortured every day not knowing anything about their son or their brother or their father - it's sinful really."

Shipping minister Christos Stylianides said the courts will find out what happened, in time.

"We have to be patient," he told Reuters.