More than a year after one of Europe’s deadliest migrant shipwrecks, survivors face potential deportation.
More than a year on, questions remain about what led to one of Europe’s deadliest migrant shipwrecks, killing hundreds in the waters off Greece’s southwestern coast.
In the early hours of June 14, 2023, a dramatically overcrowded fishing trawler, carrying an estimated 750 people hoping to make it to Europe, sank some 47 nautical miles from Pylos, Greece. The ship had departed from near Tobruk, on Libya’s eastern coast, embarking on a notorious and dangerous migrant route towards Italy. Hundreds had reportedly crammed onto multiple decks in deplorable conditions. Among the passengers were people from countries including Syria, Egypt, and Pakistan. Women and children were allegedly in the lower decks.
In the days after the tragedy, allegations emerged from survivors that the Greek Coast Guard had attempted to tow the boat in its last moments and that it had subsequently capsized. The Greek Coast Guard has strenuously denied these allegations — and any allegations of wrongdoing — although multiple media investigations have suggested an attempt to tow the boat out of Greek waters as a possible cause of the wreck.
Hundreds Missing
The numbers were grim. Only 104 people survived. Authorities recovered just 82 bodies. The rest of the passengers, including scores of children said to have been on board, remained missing, presumably dead.
In the wake of the wreck, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis tried to deflect blame. He instead pointed the finger at smugglers “who trade in human suffering, exploit human weaknesses and load persecuted people into rotten boats, at great risk of sinking in the middle of the Mediterranean.”
By email, Greece’s maritime affairs ministry declined comment on legal proceedings or court cases as an investigation into the “tragic shipwreck of Pylos” is ongoing. However, the ministry insisted that the Hellenic Coastguard conducted itself in accordance to the relevant laws. It added that the coastguard operates with “responsibility” and “professionalism” as well as “absolute respect for human life and human rights, in accord[ance] with international and EU law.”
Spotted at Sea
The incident drew considerable attention to the actions of Greek and European authorities in the hours leading up to the sinking. Critics have asked why neither attempted a rescue before the boat finally sank. Drones and large tankers had spotted the boat, clearly well over capacity, in the days before.
Frontex, the EU coast guard and external border agency, has also faced scrutiny after news emerged that it had offered Greek authorities assistance three times in the hours leading up to the wreck. Greek authorities reportedly declined those offers. Although no Frontex asset was present at the time of the deadly crash, a Frontex drone took one of the only known aerial photos of the boat the day before it sank, which shows just how heavily overcrowded it was.
Survivors have testified to horrors they faced on the journey, including a lack of drinking water and food with many trapped on lower decks. Those who survived have since submitted a complaint before the Fundamental Rights Officer of Frontex concerning the agency’s actions that day.
In May this year, a Greek court dismissed a case against nine Egyptians, also survivors, who faced accusations of smuggling and causing the wreck.
Deportation Orders
Meanwhile, a handful of Egyptian and Pakistani survivors who remain in Greece have learned in recent weeks that Greek authorities rejected their asylum applications. Meanwhile, these survivors have also received deportation orders, prompting concern from their lawyers.
Deporting them will only put them at greater risk, according to Eleni Spathana, a lawyer with Refugee Support Aegean, one of the legal groups representing the survivors. She explained that smuggling networks have targeted them as witnesses “in a case that has become a major issue in their countries.”
Spathana added, “We, all the organizations and collectivities that support and represent them, will stand by their side in order to ensure their protection.”
I still think that it was state-sanctioned murder.– Waqas
Those who received rejections in recent weeks had been waiting over a year to hear the outcome of their asylum applications. Meanwhile, others, mainly Syrians, received their refugee status quickly in the weeks after the wreck, and many have since left Greece.
In September 2023, a criminal complaint was filed at the Greek naval court against Greek authorities deemed responsible. The prosecutor opened a preliminary investigation, which is still ongoing. There likely will be no results until at least September this year. Fifty-three survivors have now signed onto the complaint. The Greek Ombudsman, Andreas Pottakis, has opened a separate and independent investigation. Last month, media outlets reported that he had called the head of the Greek Coast Guard to testify.
Disputes over Evidence
Spathana told Inkstick that they have asked for all available evidence for the official investigation, including asking for photographs of the sunken fishing vessel as well as data extracted from the Coast Guard’s vessel recording systems. She says they recently learned that the Coast Guard’s recording systems were not even functional.
There are also other issues concerning the safeguarding of evidence, including the phones of survivors which were “found“ in a warehouse on the island of Kythera after their removal by Coast Guard members, as well as the phones of the Coast Guard officers themselves, which were only confiscated at the end of September 2023 by the naval court prosecutor, months after the wreck occurred.
“There are many questions that remain unanswered as to what and why it happened and, consequently, as to the responsibilities of the Coast Guard,” Spathana said, adding that there must be accountability and justice for the survivors and the dead.
“Stain on Greece and the EU”
Waqas*, a relative of one of those missing from the boat, said his 19-year-old cousin had journeyed from Pakistan on the promise of a better life in Europe. “He was promised it was going to be a VIP service where they were going to be taken onto a really nice ship,” he said by phone from his home in the UK. “It’s been more than a year now since June 2023. I still think that it was state-sanctioned murder. … It’s a stain on Greece and the EU.”
Adriana Tidona, European Migration Researcher at Amnesty International, told Inkstick that even a year on from the “horror” of the shipwreck, allegations of rights abuses at Greek borders continued, including illegal pushbacks of asylum seekers back across the borders.
“One year since the shipwreck, in Greece and beyond, people have taken to the streets to protest the authorities’ failure to deliver truth and justice in the Pylos shipwreck and other incidents, in some cases standing shoulder to shoulder with survivors and relatives who continue to show resilience and courage one year since the events,” she said.
Tidona added that rights groups hope “accountability mechanisms in Greece and Europe will finally draw a line under their ordeal and this unacceptable state of uncertainty.” While she welcomed news of the Greek Ombudsman’s investigation, she said it is “crucial” that the naval court’s investigation “advances” and sends “a clear message that allegations of grave crimes against racialized refugees and migrants” face rigorous scrutiny.
For his part, Waqas echoes these sentiments. “I just hope there is some justice further down the line,” he said, “because there’s no closure for the families.”
Cover image: In Malakasa camp, the president of the Pakistani Community of Greece speaks to media after the deadly Pylos shipwreck, June 20, 2023 (Nick Paleologos)