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Greece shipwreck: people-smuggling suspects arrested as search continues Greece shipwreck: hopes of finding survivors fade on final day of search
(32 minutes later)
Nine suspects due to face court as search operation enters third day and protests break out over EU and Greek migration policies Nine suspects expected to face court as search enters third day and initial response to disaster is criticised
Greek authorities have arrested nine suspected people-smugglers who are believed to have piloted the overcrowded fishing boat that sank off the coast on Wednesday, in one of the worst disasters in the Mediterranean in recent years. Rescuers have launched the third and final day of their search for survivors of one of the Mediterranean’s worst boat disasters, as authorities detained nine suspected people-smugglers and criticism of Greece’s initial response mounted.
The search operation in the tragedy in which hundreds are feared to have died, is due to continue until at least Friday morning, according to government sources. So far, 78 deaths have been confirmed but Greek police believe as many as 500 are missing, with witness accounts that up to 100 children were travelling in the ship’s hold. The Greek coastguard said on Friday a helicopter, a frigate and three smaller vessels were searching waters 50 miles (80 km) from the southern town of Pylos where the fishing boat, reportedly carrying between 400 and 750 people, sank on Wednesday.
The chances of retrieving the sunken vessel were remote, the sources said, because the area of international waters where the incident occurred was so deep. The chances of finding more survivors “are minimal”, retired Greek coast guard Admiral Nikos Spanos told national broadcaster ERT. Greek authorities have confirmed 78 deaths and said 104 survivors – mostly from Syria, Egypt and Pakistan – have been brought ashore, but police believe as many as 500 are missing, with witnesses saying up to 100 children were in the ship’s hold.
“We have seen old fishing boats like this before from Libya. They are not at all seaworthy. To put it simply, they are floating coffins.” Most of the survivors were being moved to shelters near Athens from a warehouse at the southern port of Kalamata. No more had been found since Wednesday and officials said the search would be halted later on Friday.
On Thursday night, Skai TV reported that the nine people smuggling suspects – all men – were of Egyptian descent and were suspected of masterminding the illegal voyage of hundreds of people to Italy from Libya, after first setting out from Egypt with the trawler. “Hopes of finding survivors are fading each minute after this tragic sinking but the search must continue,” said Stella Nanou of the UN refugee agency, UNHCR. She said broadcast images and survivor accounts suggested “hundreds were aboard”.
“They are in custody and will appear before a local magistrate,” Nikos Alexiou, the Hellenic coastguard spokesperson, told the Guardian. “They are being held by the coastguard in Kalamata.” The UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, on Friday called the disaster “a horrific tragedy”, adding that the loss of life underlined the need to bring people-smugglers to justice and calling on states to open up more regular migration channels.
A public prosecutor is likely to press several charges against the group including that of mass murder. Local media reports said the ship’s captain was not among them and had died when the vessel went down. Authorities were holding nine of the survivors, all men of Egyptian descent, ranging in age from 20 to 40, on allegations of people-smuggling and participating in a criminal enterprise.
On Thursday evening, thousands of protesters rallied in Athens and the northern city of Thessaloniki, demanding European Union migration policies be eased to prevent another tragedy. A group of protesters in the capital threw petrol bombs at police who responded with teargas. Arrested on Thursday night, they are suspected of masterminding the illegal voyage to Italy from Tobruk in Libya, after first setting out from Egypt with the fishing trawler. “They are in custody and will appear before a local magistrate,” Nikos Alexiou, the Hellenic coastguard spokesperson, told the Guardian.
In Kalamata, protesters marched outside the migrants’ shelter. “Crocodile tears! No to the EU’s pact on migration,” read one banner. A public prosecutor is likely to press several charges against the group including mass murder. There were conflicting reports about whether the ship’s captain was among those arrested, with some local media saying he had died when the vessel went down.
During a visit to Kalamata on Thursday, Alexis Tsipras, who was prime minister from 2015-2019 at the peak of Europe’s migration crisis, said “The immigration policy that Europe has been following for years … turns the Mediterranean, our seas, into watery graves.” Tsipras, now an opposition leader, said:“What sort of protocol does not call for the rescue… of an overloaded boat about to sink?” Greek authorities were criticised for not acting earlier, despite a coastguard vessel escorting the boat for hours. Officials said people on the boat repeatedly refused assistance and insisted on continuing to Italy, but legal experts said that was no excuse.
Under its conservative government who were in power until last month, Greece took a harder stance on migration, building walled camps and boosting border controls. The country is currently governed by a caretaker administration pending an election on 25 June. The Greek coastguard said it was notified of the boat’s presence late on Tuesday morning and observed by helicopter that it was “sailing on a steady course” at 6pm. A little later, someone on the boat was reached by satellite phone.
Greece’s government spokesperson Ilias Siakantaris told Reuters that the biggest challenge for EU border states “is forging a comprehensive EU solution on migration and asylum that respects international law and inclusive humanism.” The person said that the passengers needed food and water, but wanted to continue to Italy. “It was a fishing boat packed with people who refused our assistance because they wanted to go to Italy,” Alexiou told Skai TV.
The United Nations has registered more than 20,000 deaths and disappearances in the central Mediterranean since 2014, making it the most dangerous migrant crossing in the world. “We stayed beside it in case it needed our assistance, which they had refused.” Merchant ships delivered supplies and observed the vessel until early on Wednesday morning, when the satellite phone user reported a problem with the engine.
Greek authorities have been criticised for not acting to rescue the migrants on Wednesday, despite a coast guard vessel escorting the trawler for hours the night before it sank. Greek officials argued that the migrants repeatedly refused assistance and insisted on continuing to Italy. However, a network of activists said they received repeated distress calls from the vessel during the same time. About 40 minutes later, according to a coastguard statement, the boat began to rock violently and sank. Coastguard experts believe it may have run out of fuel or had engine trouble and that passengers moving inside caused it to list and capsize.
The Greek coast guard said it was notified of the boat’s presence late Tuesday morning and observed by helicopter that it was “sailing on a steady course” at 6pm. A little later, Greek search-and-rescue officials said they reached someone on the boat by satellite phone, who repeatedly said that passengers needed food and water but wanted to continue to Italy. Greece’s caretaker minister for civil protection, Evangelos Tournas, said the coastguard could not intervene in international waters with a vessel refusing assistance. “An intervention by the coastguard could have placed an overloaded vessel in danger, which could capsize as a result,” he said.
“It was a fishing boat packed with people who refused our assistance because they wanted to go to Italy,” a coastguard spokesperson, Nikos Alexiou, told Skai TV. “We stayed beside it in case it needed our assistance, which they had refused.” However, Prof Erik Røsæg of the University of Oslo’s Institute of Private Law said maritime law would have required Greek authorities to attempt a rescue if the boat was unsafe, regardless of whether those onboard requested it.
Merchant ships delivered supplies and observed the vessel until early Wednesday morning, when the satellite phone user reported a problem with the engine. About 40 minutes later, according to the coast guard statement, the migrant vessel began to rock violently and sank. Greek authorities “had a duty to start rescue procedures” given the condition of the trawler, Røsæg told Associated Press, adding that a captain’s refusal of assistance could be overruled if deemed unreasonable – which he said this appeared to be.
The acting Greek migration minister, Daniel Esdras, told the TV station ERT that Greece would examine survivors’ asylum claims but those not entitled to protection would be sent home. An independent refugee activist, Nawal Soufi, said in a Facebook post that she had been in touch with the boat throughout Tuesday and in the last call, “the man I was talking to expressly told me: ‘I feel that this will be our last night alive.’”
The deadliest migrant tragedy in Greece was in June 2016, when at least 320 people were listed as dead or missing in a sinking near Crete. Aerial pictures released by Greek authorities of the boat hours before it sank showed dozens of people on the boat’s upper and lower decks looking up, some with arms outstretched.
Greece’s caretaker government has called three days of national mourning, with electoral campaigning ahead of polls on 25 June suspended. Under its recent conservative government, Greece has taken a far harder stance on migration, building walled camps and boosting border controls. The country is currently governed by a caretaker administration pending an election on 25 June.
Human rights groups say an EU crackdown on smuggling has forced people to take longer, more dangerous routes. Eftychia Georgiadi of the International Rescue Committee charity said the bloc had failed to offer more safe pathways to migration.
That “effectively slams the door on people seeking protection”, Georgiadi said. “Nobody embarks on these treacherous journeys unless they feel they have no other option,” she added.
On Thursday evening, thousands of protesters rallied in Athens and the northern city of Thessaloniki, demanding EU migration policies be eased to prevent another tragedy. A group of protesters in the capital threw petrol bombs at police.
Alexis Tsipras, who was prime minister from 2015-2019 at the peak of Europe’s migration crisis, said on Thursday: “The immigration policy that Europe has been following for years … turns the Mediterranean, our seas, into watery graves.”
Tsipras, now an opposition leader, said: “What sort of protocol does not call for the rescue … of an overloaded boat about to sink?”
Associated Press and Agence France-Presse contributed to this report.