Migrant boat: Nine arrested over vessel that sank off Greek coast
Kalamata, Greece
CNN
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Nine crew members have been arrested for people smuggling after a packed vessel sank in the Mediterranean on Wednesday, killing dozens of people, as human rights campaigners accused Greek authorities of neglecting those on board.
The Greek coastguard said nine Egyptian nationals aged between 20 and 40 were also arrested on suspicion of setting up a criminal organization, manslaughter by negligence, exposure to danger, and causing a shipwreck.
The boat was traveling from the coastal city of Tobruk in Libya to Italy, when it capsized off the coast of Greece. At least 78 people have died and some reports said up to 750 were on board.
Coastguard officials told CNN the arrests were made after two days of interrogations at the southern Greek port city of Kalamata, where 104 shipwreck survivors were temporarily being sheltered before moving to a facility near Athens on Friday.
Authorities said they cross-referenced survivors’ testimonies to determine the exact role of the nine arrested. They are expected to appear before a local magistrate on Monday.
Scenes of relatives descending on Kalamata in their desperate search for loved ones reignited the heated debate on Europe’s migrant crisis, a political lightning rod that NGOs say is exacerbated by the lack of safe and legal routes available for refugees.
The NGO Alarm Phone denounced the Greek response to the tragedy, alleging that authorities failed to acknowledge an earlier alert that the vessel was in danger. It characterized the “horrible and systematic pushback practices” carried out by Greek authorities, accusing them of “violently deterring people on the move.”
Pushbacks are state measures aimed at forcing refugees and migrants out of their territory, while impeding access to legal and procedural frameworks, according to the Berlin-based European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR).
A CNN investigation in 2020 revealed allegations of an illegal pushback campaign by Athens against migrants and asylum seekers reaching Greek shores. The Greek Migration Ministry denied the claims.
Alarm Phone said in a statement that it alerted the Hellenic coast guard on Tuesday afternoon local time of the boat in distress, after people on the ship called the organization for help. Greek authorities have not said whether they received the alert.
“The Greek authorities, reportedly also Italy and Malta, had already been alerted several hours earlier,” Alarm Phone claimed.
“It is due to systematic pushbacks that boats are trying to avoid Greece, navigating much longer routes, and risking lives at sea.”
The Greek coast guard said in a statement it repeatedly asked the boat if it needed assistance and that the agency was told it did not.
Greek authorities said it could not intervene with the boat without being asked for assistance, given that the boat was in international waters. Greek authorities have told CNN they offered help but it was declined.
A huge search-and-rescue operation continued on Friday but no survivors have been found since its initial phase early on Wednesday.
Greek coastguard spokesperson Nikos Alexiou told CNN the chances of retrieving the sunken vessel are “next to non-existent” because the area of international waters where the incident took place is one of the deepest in the Mediterranean.
The people rescued include Egyptians, Syrians, Pakistanis and Palestinians. Eight are minors.
None of the survivors were women but witness accounts say there were many women and children on board, traveling in the ship’s hold.
Questions are now being asked as to whether the tragic incident could have been avoided, with many international bodies saying the international community should collaborate on “more safe pathways” for migrants.
The Mediterranean region near Greece is a key route for migrants and refugees trying to escape political strife in the Middle East, Asia and Africa.
The number of undocumented people emerging on European shores has spiraled this year due to conflict, global inequality and the climate crisis.
More than 36,000 people arrived in the Mediterranean from January to March this year, nearly twice the number compared with the same period in 2022, according to figures from the UN’s refugee agency (UNHCR).
“We need more safe pathways for people forced to flee,” the UNHCR office in Greece tweeted on Wednesday. “They should not be left with impossible life-threatening choices.”
On Thursday evening, groups pledging solidarity with migrants marched outside the port of Kalamata and in Greece’s two major cities, Athens and Thessaloniki.
The country’s caretaker government has called three days of national mourning and political leaders have temporarily suspended electoral campaigns, before fresh elections are held on June 25. A national vote in May was inconclusive.
Greece’s former center-right government has faced international criticism over its hardline stance on migration. In a May interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour former Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, described his migration policy as “tough but fair.”
Mitsotakis’ party won a resounding victory in the May election with 40% of the vote but did not secure a big enough majority to govern alone.
His main opponent, Alexis Tsipras, whose center-left party Syriza is trailing heavily in the polls, visited Kalamata Thursday criticizing the former government and EU migration policy. “It’s a policy that has turned the Mediterranean into a watery grave,” he said.
