(CN) — Greece's coast guard and its conservative government's tough-on-migrant policies are coming under scrutiny for actions that may have led to the drowning of hundreds of migrants and asylum seekers off the coast of the Peloponnese peninsula.
Last Wednesday, an overcrowded and aged fishing vessel carrying up to 800 migrants and asylum seekers capsized at about 2 a.m. some 50 miles off the coast of Pylos, a town in southern Greece, leading to the deaths of hundreds of people.
The disaster – one of the worst migrant boat catastrophes ever in the Mediterranean Sea – took place even though the Hellenic Coast Guard was present at the time the vessel keeled over and sank. Meanwhile, an airplane with the European Union's border agency, Frontex, spotted the dangerously unseaworthy and overcrowded boat more than 12 hours before it sank and tracked its progress.
Rescuers saved 104 people, but hundreds remain missing. As of Tuesday, 81 bodies had been retrieved from the sea, according to the Hellenic Coast Guard.
The boat was known to be carrying people from Pakistan, Syria and Egypt. Numerous women and children were reportedly in the boat's hold when it sank. Nine men who survived are accused of acting as human smugglers with Greek authorities blaming them for causing the disaster. The men have pleaded not guilty.
But in the week since the disaster, evidence and revelations, including testimony from survivors, have emerged that leave Greek authorities open to allegations of wrongdoing and inhumane disregard for the distressed migrant boat.
Most damning are survivor accounts accusing a Greek coast guard vessel of causing the boat to capsize after its crews allegedly tied a rope to the overcrowded vessel and tried to drag the boat toward waters under Italian jurisdiction. The vessel was in international waters when it sank, but it was located within a search-and-rescue zone under Greece's responsibility.
After the boat sank, Greek authorities claimed the vessel was under the control of human smugglers and that those aboard refused help because they were bound for Italy.
But the Hellenic Coast Guard is on the back foot after it was found offering contradictory accounts about what happened. It also has failed to provide many details.
Undermining its credibility, the coast guard first denied a rope was attached to the boat and then later acknowledged a rope was used.
The migrant vessel was obviously in distress and in need of help, according to various media accounts. The New York Times reported on Monday that commercial vessels provided the migrant boat with food and water and that survivors said some passengers had died from thirst and exposure. Also, a migrant advocacy group, Alarm Phone, said it received calls by noon Tuesday about how the vessel was in distress with passengers in need of help and that it had relayed that information to Greece's coast guard. Alarm Phone did not immediately reply to a query.
On Tuesday, a coast guard spokesman said the agency was not responding to reporters' questions and referred Courthouse News to the Greek foreign ministry. The foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a query.
The European Commission, the EU's executive branch, also did not reply to a request for comment and details. Migrant advocates are calling on the EU to launch an investigation.
At a midday news conference, commission officials said Greece's public prosecutor was leading an investigation into the tragedy. But the commission offered little clarity on its position regarding what role it will play in understanding what went wrong.
Besides the actions of the Hellenic Coast Guard, the disaster is being blamed on Greece's policy of harsh treatment toward migrants, including the construction of high-security border fences, aggressive border policing and pushing migrants back to Turkey without regard for their asylum claims.
This tough stance was reinforced under the conservative leadership of Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who became prime minister in 2019 after pledging to stop migration into Greece. The New Democracy leader is expected to win reelection this weekend. His tough approach on migrants was praised in March 2020 by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who referred to Greece as Europe's “shield” against migrants and disorder.
In recent days, Mitsotakis has lashed out at critics of his migrant policies and blamed the disaster on smugglers.
But the country's anti-migrant approach has forced many migrants – and those trafficking them toward Europe – to avoid Greece and make longer and more dangerous journeys, migrant advocates charge. The vessel that capsized last week may have been heading past Greece toward Italy for this reason, experts on migration say.
Kathrin Schmidt, a coordinator for nongovernmental humanitarian search-and-rescue missions in the Mediterranean, faulted Greek authorities for the disaster.
“It can't be considered a mistake because a mistake would have been unintentional,” she said during a telephone interview. “This is what they consider right. They consider their preferred practice to have people drown and die at sea rather than risk them reaching land safely.”
She charged Greek authorities with ignoring the plight of the migrants on the capsized vessel.
“What would have happened if there was a cruise ship with 600 Europeans on board at risk?” she said. “You would react without delay.”
Instead, she said Greek authorities took 12 hours to reach the migrant boat and even then failed to pass out life vests to those aboard the boat.
“It's not surprising,” she added. “This is not the first time this has happened and, unfortunately, I don't think this will be the last time.”
Schmidt doubted a proper investigation would take place into the catastrophe.
“There may be an investigation, but I have very little trust or faith that the outcome of this investigation would reveal the truth,” she said.
“We are framing the people who are trying to reach Europe as criminals,” she said. “It is OK to put them behind bars when they are actually seeking protection and exercising their right to freedom of movement.”
She said the EU's policies of closing borders to people fleeing war, famine and poverty has allowed illegal human smuggling to flourish.
Courthouse News reporter Cain Burdeau is based in the European Union.
Follow @cainburdeau
Subscribe to Closing Arguments
Sign up for new weekly newsletter Closing Arguments to get the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and hot cases and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world.
