A joint investigation by omniatv and EFSYN, for the Pylos shipwreck. The piece of rope hanging from the bow of the fishing vessel points to its towing // The Hellenic Coast Guard captain did not submit the picture to the authorities // Attempts of the HCG’s leadership to cover up the towing
Today, omniatv and EFSYN reveal a shocking photo depicting, for the first time, the fishing boat carrying refugees, shortly before sinking off Pylos, with a piece of blue rope hanging from the bow, snapped or roughly cut, with a noose on the end. This is the infamous blue mooring rope which the Coast Guard is accused of using to tow the fishing boat, causing the fatal wreck.
The “missing” picture
It is perhaps the last known photograph of the fishing boat before it sunk, together with most of its 750 passengers. It confirms survivors’ testimonies about the existence of “a blue rope used to tow the vessel”, it refutes the Coast Guard’s claims, and adds another piece to the puzzle of the cover-up and withholding of evidence.
According to our sources, the photo was sent at 17:04 in the afternoon on June 14th 2023, by A.K., an officer of the Coastal Patrol Boat of the Coast Guard 920 (PPLS 920) to his captain, officer Miltiadis Zouridakis, via Viber. However, Mr. Zouridakis did not submit this picture to the authorities, even though he submitted two other photos of the fishing boat, in which the blue rope is not present.
Above: The two pictures of the fishing vessel taken from the PPLS 920 as they have already been published | Source: Hellenic Coast Guard
One of these two submitted photographs, taken from the command deck of the patrol boat, was taken at 1:27 AM on June 14th, as shown by a screenshot retrieved from the captain’s mobile phone after the crime labs of the Hellenic Police performed a forensic examination and extraction of data. The second picture is shot shortly afterwards, and at a closer distance from the fishing boat.
The question then is: when was this photo with the blue rope taken? In the file retrieved, no timestamp is present. Some days after the shipwreck, the Hellenic Coast Guard (HCG) was forced to admit, contradicting its initial claims, to the docking of the PPLS 920 with the fishing boat.
The numerous contradictions of HCG’s spokesman, Nikos Alexiou, are impressive, to say the least. The day after the wreck, on June 15, 2023, he claimed that “no side-mooring was ever done” and said that ropes were thrown by the second bypassing commercial vessel, one of the two vessels that provided the fishing vessel with food and supplies prior to the PPLS 920’s arrival.
The next morning, on June 16, following an article in Kathimerini newspaper, referring to the throwing of the ropes towards the fishing vessel, the spokesman made two public appearances in two different broadcasts within one hour. At 7:30 in the morning he reiterated that no mooring had taken place and claimed that the first commercial vessel had thrown ropes, whereas the previous day he had talked about the second vessel.
At 8:20, he will claim something completely different: “in the first approach made by the coastal patrol boat that arrived and was lined up next to the fishing vessel, they threw, as usual, a rope, in order for the two boats to stay in close distance, but there was a lack of cooperation and they (the refugees) did not even hold the rope, they let it fall into the sea (…) it was not tied”.
The same evening, he admits that the two boats came bow to bow just before 11:00 pm on June 13: “and were tied together with a small rope for a few minutes until the discussions between them took place […] when the migrants declared that they did not wish any assistance, untied it themselves, and continued on their way”.
What does this show?
This is the very narrative that he will continue to support in the following days, insisting that the refugees untied the rope and continued on their way. The captain of the PPLS 920, Miltiadis Zouridakis, in his testimony provided to the investigating authorities of Kalamata, had claimed that at 23:50 “[the refugees] were given a small rope in order for the HCG vessel to approach the fishing vessel and find out exactly what were the needs of those onboard. […] at 23:57 they unhooked the rope[…] They started the boat’s engine again […]’.
The picture we are publishing today shows something different: the fishing boat is at a slight angle and a piece of a blue mooring rope that has been cut off is hanging from its bow. This image contradicts the claim that the refugees untied the rope. It is the HCG that cut or untied the rope.
Why is the blue mooring rope important?
The accusation about HCG’s towing of the fishing vessel with a “blue mooring rope” appeared the very next day after the shipwreck. It was first recorded in an article by EFSYN on 16 June 2023, which mentions survivors’ testimonies which they shared with the then president of SYRIZA opposition party, mr. Alexis Tsipras, in Kalamata. According to the testimonies “the adjacent Coast Guard vessel threw a blue rope to the drifting fishing boat in order to tow them, causing the boat to lose its balance, flip over and capsize (Article: “This crime must not go unpunished”, 16/6/2023, EFSYN).
Similarly, in a courtcase against nine survivors (who were eventually acquitted), six of the witnesses testified to the investigating authorities of Kalamata, mentioning the towing. During the pre-trial phase, all nine survivors pending their court dates, and were then in custody, reported the towing and the blue rope in separate interviews to omniatv, from their prison cells, in July 2023 (“Second Death: The Pylos9 speak” 6/2/2024, omniatv). In a joint investigation by Forensis, Solomon et al. (“Under the unwatchful eye of the authorities’ deactivated cameras: dying in the darkest depths of the Mediterranean”, 6/7/2023) survivors point to a 3D model at the exact spot where the blue rope had been tied up.
This would lead to the assumption that there indeed was a second approach attempt by the HCG’s patrol boat, just before the wreck. The Coast Guard claims that at 1:40AM the fishing vessel informed them of a mechanical failure, and the PPLS 920 approached to assess the situation. However, other photos on the HCG captain’s cell phone show that by 1:27AM the patrol boat had already begun its approach. Thus, if this new picture with the blue mooring rope contradicts the Coast Guard’s claims, and was not taken shortly before midnight, this means that it was taken shortly before the wreck and that the Coast Guard did not limit itself to “assessing the situation”. This is, moreover, what the survivors’ testimonies converge on.