Survivors of Pylos tragedy claim Greek coast guard caused boat capsizing
Source: InfoMigrants: reliable and verified news for migrants – InfoMigrants
According to survivors of the June 14 boat tragedy off the Greek coast, the vessel capsized while the Greek coast guard was trying to help by attaching a rope to it. Accounts as to why a rope was attached vary, with some migrants claiming that the boat was going to be towed recklessly — an accusation the Greek coast guard rejects.
New details are beginning to emerge on the boat tragedy which occurred off the coast of the Greek Island of Pylos on June 14, in which hundreds of people are believed to have drowned, as investigations continue.
Survivors have now shared their personal accounts of the ill-fated journey, where smugglers reportedly had stuffed up to 800 migrants onto an overcrowded fishing trawler. According to the UN refugee agency, most of them came from Syria, Egypt and Pakistan.
Some of the survivors have come out claiming that the boat capsized after the Greek coast guard tried to tow the vessel into safety. The rope used in that attempt allegedly caused the trawler to capsize, according to their accounts.
Read more: Who to contact about people missing since the June 14 shipwreck in Greece
At the end of the rope
In total, six survivors submitted testimonies to Greek officials investigating the tragedy, all attributing the incident to the coast guard towing attempt, according to evidence seen by the Reuters news agency.
In the reports seen by Reuters, a survivor with Syrian nationality recalled how he and a number of other migrants on board the Adriana fishing trawler tried to interfere and get the coast guard to stop pulling the boat — just before the tragic incident occurred.
After attaching a rope to its bow, the survivor remembers that the coast guard vessel began to pick up speed, which reportedly resulted in the trawler swinging from left to right before ultimately capsizing.
The towing narrative was corroborated by another survivor, interviewed separately by Reuters on the condition of anonymity. This person also said that the Adriana overturned once the coast guard started tugging the boat.
“People were on top of each other, people were screaming, people were drowning each other. It was night time and there were waves. It was scary,” the source recalled.
The testimony of this survivor, however, did not form part of the official testimonies submitted to Greek authorities. Those official accounts seen by Reuters meanwhile have not yet been made available to the public.
The shipping ministry, which is in charge of the coast guard, said that due to the confidential and ongoing nature of the investigation it cannot comment.
Read more: Greece: Questions continue mounting over final hours before migrant ship sank
Seven minutes to disaster
However, the statements of these six witnesses appear to be at odds with official statements given by the Greek coast guard and government, who claim that there had been no attempt to tow the boat.
In an amended account, a coast guard spokesperson only said that its vessel had indeed attached a rope to the Adriana but only to draw closer to communicate. The coast guard denied it tried to tow the trawler.
The log of the coast guard boat also said that a rope was tied to the fishing trawler to draw closer and talk to those on board and assess if they needed help. This happened just before midnight, according to the log.
People on board the boat untied the rope, the log continued, telling the Greek coast guard that they were heading to Italy. The log goes on to highlight that about two hours later, the coast guard vessel was told by its operation center to go back to the trawler and inspect its condition, as the Adriana, which had already shown signs of having engine problems, had stopped moving.
The coast guard vessel then approached the trawler to a distance of 70 meters, at which point officials said they heard a lot of shouting.
Seven minutes later, the trawler had capsized, according to the log.
Read more: ‘My tears won’t stop falling’: Families worry after deadly Greece shipwreck
Cruel treatment of migrants
The suspected people smugglers involved in the case meanwhile were arrested on June 15, pending further investigation which is expected to result in a trial.
The charges against them include migrant smuggling, causing a shipwreck, and manslaughter.
The alleged smugglers have also been accused of being particularly cruel, taking away most personal belongings of the migrants prior to boarding to make space to squeeze in more people.
According to eyewitnesses, they even threw out bottles of drinking water for this reason. A Syrian survivor told authorities that each traveler only had 40 centimeters of space.
Survivors said they had to pay up to €5,500 for the journey, with places on the outer deck, which is considered to be safer, being sold for €50 to €200 extra.
The smugglers also deliberately lied to the migrants, telling them that they would reach Italy from eastern Libya in just three days, according to survivor accounts. However, it was exactly on day three of the journey that the capsizing occurred — just past the halfway point of the intended course of travel.
One of worst sea tragedies recorded
A total of 104 people survived the capsizing of the boat, but an unspecified number in the hundreds remain missing. Only 82 bodies have been recovered.
As the accident occurred in what is one of the deepest parts of the Mediterranean, it is deemed unlikely that any further bodies will be recovered.
The event occurred in international waters within Greece’s search-and-rescue zone, and it is deemed to be one of the worst since migrant deaths in the Mediterranean Sea first started to systematically be recorded by the IOM in 2014.
Read more: Rising death toll at the gates of Europe is unacceptable, says UN
with Reuters
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