Greece: Four dead and 25 survivors in alleged migrant smuggling incident

The bodies of three men and one woman were recovered from the southern tip of the Greek island of Rhodes early on Wednesday morning (November 6), stated the Greek coast guard.

In a statement released just after midnight on November 7, the coast guard said they had been informed of “the existence of bodies on Prasonisi beach,” on the island of Rhodes.

The bodies of three men were recovered from the beach while the body of the woman was located in the sea, not far off the beach. The bodies were transferred to the General Hospital in Rhodes for an autopsy.

Later, officials from the Immigration Management Department discovered a group of 25 people on land consisting of six men, eight women and 11 minors. They were taken to the Central Port Authority in Rhodes.

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‘Threatened and beaten’

According to statements from survivors, the coast guard reported that a man alleged to have transported them from the Turkish coast toward Rhodes had been armed with a pistol and an “iron fist.” The migrants told authorities they had been “threatened, intimidated, and beaten” by the alleged smuggler during the journey, resulting in four people becoming unconscious.

When the boat on which they were traveling approached Prasonisi beach, the migrants disembarked, and the smuggler is alleged to have thrown the four unconscious people into the sea, and then fled back towards the Turkish coast.

The Greek authorities say they are carrying out “preliminary investigations.”

A search and rescue operation, launched after the bodies were discovered, was called off once the Greek authorities ascertained from survivors that no further people were missing, reported the news agency Associated Press (AP).

The nationalities of those who died and those who survived have not yet been reported.

Greece mulling building further detention centers

Greece’s migration minister, Nikos Panagiotopoulos, says his government is seeking stricter EU migration policies to prevent more people from attempting to reach Greece from Turkey. On Tuesday (November 5) the minister also announced they are thinking of building detention facilities on the islands of Rhodes and Crete.

Panagiotopoulos said that at the moment, many migrant reception facilities on the Greek mainland were operating at “full capacity” after thousands had been transferred off the Greek islands towards mainland Greece.

According to data from the UN Refugee Agency UNHCR, more than 50,000 migrants arrived in Greece between January 1 2024 and November 3. More than 43,000 of them arrived by sea. On the island of Rhodes, the numbers have reached almost 6,000 in that time period, and on the island of Crete, more than 4,600.

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The route to Rhodes

Rhodes is located in the eastern Aegean, not far from the Turkish coast, whereas Crete is in the southern Mediterranean, but has increasingly become a target for both those traveling from Turkey and the Middle East, as well as some coming from North Africa.

In October several hundred migrants set up tents and makeshift cardboard shelters outside the local government offices on Rhodes, sparking anger among residents and local authorities, reported the French news agency Agence France Presse (AFP). During the last week of October, more than 700 migrants arrived on Rhodes, according to the local news outlet Rodiaki.

In recent years, some smugglers from Turkey have opened alternative routes in an attempt to avoid the increased coast guard and Frontex patrols in the Aegean by attempting to circumnavigate the southern part of Greece and sail to Italy instead. However, many of the boats that attempt this much longer crossing have encountered difficulties along the way, and some have ended up needing rescues near Crete.

With AP, AFP, Reuters