*First Published on InfoMigrants
Questions continue to mount over what happened to the migrant ship that sank off Greece in the early hours of last Wednesday. Some of the most recent evidence suggests inaccuracies in the Greek coast guard’s account.
More than five days after a migrant ship reportedly carrying hundreds of migrants sank off the coast of southern Greece on Wednesday (June 14), searches for survivors are being wound down as questions continue to mount.
Survivor testimonies are starting to emerge. Citing the Greek newspaper Kathimerini, the news agency Associated Press published interviews with Hassan, a 23-year-old Syrian, and Rana, a 24-year-old Pakistani.
The men confirmed the boat set off from the Libyan city of Tobruk on June 9. They said they had only been given small amounts of food and “dirty water”, both of which ran out on Tuesday (June 13).
They said the boat’s engine broke down repeatedly after three days at sea. Some of the people they believe were working for the smugglers mended it only for it to break down again, they said, adding that they think the captain may have lost his way.
Water delivered
According to Hassan’s account, the captain was forced to call for help late on Tuesday after many of the passengers complained about the lack of food and water.
Also read: Greece, not an unexpected tragedy
After the engine was shut down, the boat started to list, says Rana. Many passengers panicked and rushed to the opposite side, causing the boat to capsize and sink. Rana says he could not swim but managed to stay afloat until a “large ship retrieved him.” His wife and children, who were in a cabin, were not so lucky.
Hassan said he had given around $4,500 (around €4,120) to middlemen for his journey, while Rana says he paid around $8,000 to a fellow Pakistani in Libya to cross the sea. His brother, who is already in Italy, was due to pay more upon his safe arrival in Italy.
Was the ship on course for Italy?
Over the weekend, the BBC presented evidence which it says strongly suggests that the original account from the Greek coast guard of the final few hours before the sinking could be inaccurate. The BBC analyzed data from the Marine Traffic website and obtained the ship’s log of at least one of the boats that made contact with the vessel to deliver food and water before it eventually sank.
According to the Greek coast guard, up until shortly before the overcrowded fishing boat capsized and sank, it had been making steady progress towards Italy and had refused all help from the Greek authorities and nearby ships, saying that they wanted to make it to Italy.
Also read: Boat disaster, Greece declares days of national mourning
Although the exact position of the migrant ship cannot be tracked on the Marine Traffic data website because it had no callsign, the BBC located where the ship eventually sank and then monitored which other ships were nearby in the final few hours.
Their findings show that two ships, the Lucky Sailor and Faithful Warrior — which have both confirmed they were asked by the Greek coast guard to deliver food and water to the migrants on board the fishing boat — both visited a spot very near where the ship eventually sank several hours before the tragedy occurred.
‘Not moving for at least seven hours before it capsized’
Pictures and videos taken by passengers aboard some of the nearby ships have also come to light. They appear to show the migrant ship relatively static. According to the BBC’s Europe Correspondent Nick Beake, the migrant ship was “not moving for at least seven hours before it capsized.”
Data from coast guard and military ships are not publically available since they don’t have to openly display their call signs. However, the logs from the Lucky Sailor, seen by the BBC, confirm it was asked to divert at about 2:50 p.m. on June 13 to provide water and food.
The log records state that at about 2:50 p.m. on June 13, “target boat was sighted…Migrant boat was observed to be a …fishing vessel of about 30 meters in length and was to have about 200 people on board.” The log stated that weather conditions at this point were “good” and that “nobody was at an imminent danger.”
Also read: Greece transfers migrants to ferry after dramatic rescue
The master of the Lucky Sailor “reported that those on board this boat were very hesitant to receive any assistance and at any attempt of approach … started to maneuver away from M/T Lucky Sailor.” Those on board were reportedly shouting they wanted to go to Italy. They were, however, finally convinced to take the extra food and water.
Did the coast guard attach a rope to the fishing boat?
The BBC reported that about two and a half hours after the Lucky Sailor supplied the ship, the Faithful Warrior also arrived with supplies at the same spot near the eventual shipwreck.
The Greek coast guard’s original account continues to suggest that the migrant ship was headed towards Italy. However, a photo of the boat at night published by the coast guard shows the boat without ripples under its bow, indicating it was probably motionless when the photo was taken. The BBC points out that the coast guard have now admitted they were trying to get on the ship at this point to assess whether the people were indeed in danger or not.
“Finally at around 11:00 p.m. GMT [about 3am Greek time] the boat sinks with all those people on board and there is this frenzy of ships coming to help,” Beake said. “You can see them all there [he says referring to the animated tracking video from Marine Traffic] coming to help, but it is of course by this point, too little, too late.”
The Greek Website news247.gr also reported that the ship remained in the same spot off the town of Pylos for “at least 11 hours before sinking,” news magazine Politico wrote.
A relative of one of those missing speaks
The BBC also published an interview with a relative of one of the Syrians believed to have lost his life on board the ship. Mohammed, a 23-year-old Syrian refugee living in the UK, told the BBC’s Weekend program that after hearing the news on Thursday morning, he took the first flight he could to Greece to see if his cousin had survived the tragedy.
Also read: Greece shipwreck survivors search for loved ones
Sadly, upon his arrival to Greece, where he traveled first to Kalamata and later to Athens, Mohammed managed to locate some of his 21-year-old cousin’s surviving friends. They told him his cousin had fainted shortly before the ship sank, which could help explain why he didn’t survive, despite the fact he was also on the deck.
In the radio interview, Mohammed told the BBC that the friends of his cousin who had survived thought there were between 700 and 750 people on board. They said there had been some Pakistanis in a cold storage room below deck along with numerous women and children.
Mohammed said the survivors he spoke with blamed the Greek coast guard for “towing” the ship and causing it to capsize — a charge the Greek coast guard continue to deny. However, in the face of numerous similar testimonies, they have now stated they approached the ship with a “small buoy operation”, according to Politico, in order to try and get on board. However, they say the rope was untied by those on board, who continued to refuse help.
Suspects appear before a magistrate
Nikos Alexiou, a coast guard spokesperson, told Politico: “You cannot carry out a violent diversion on such a vessel with so many people on board, without them wanting to, without any sort of cooperation.”
On Monday, the nine people suspected of acting as smugglers aboard the boat — all aged between 20 and 40 — are due to appear before a Greek magistrate. They face charges of belonging to a criminal organization formed with the purpose of illegal migrant trafficking, causing a shipwreck and endangering life.
Also read: Greece, arrivals after departures from eastern Libya on the rise
The Greek authorities say they have asked Europol to help them with an investigation into the shipwreck. On Friday, EU Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson told a press conference “unfortunately, we have seen this coming because since the start of the year, there was a new modus operandi with these fishing boats leaving from the eastern part of Libya.”
Johansson added that there has been a “600% increase” of these types of departures leaving that part of Libya, which is controlled by General Khalifar Haftar and his militia forces.
Pakistan widens search for suspected traffickers
The Pakistani authorities on Monday said they had widened a manhunt for human traffickers after the Greek sinking, according to AP. Pakistan also observed a day of national mourning on Monday.
At least 12 Pakistani nationals survived, according to AP, but scores more are believed to have died in the accident. About a dozen suspects thought to be connected to the shipwreck have been arrested in Lahore and Karachi, including two “key suspected traffickers.” All those arrested are suspected of having been involved with sending Pakistani men to Libya for an onward journey to Europe.
“All the people involved in this tragedy will be brought to justice,” said Pakistan’s Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah Khan. The Pakistani government intends to pass even harsher laws to try and stop smugglers and human traffickers from sending people on these types of journeys.
A senior Pakistani police officer said that suspects arrested were being interrogated to find out more about their alleged roles, but that they were suspected of having extracted “huge amounts of money to send the men abroad.”
DNA sent to Greece to help with identification of those who died
Abdul Jabbar, an official at Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency, appealed to relatives of those who may have died or gone missing during the accident to share any information they had about the smugglers with the authorities. They promised that they would not be arrested if they did so, but would instead be treated “as victims” too.
Pakistani officials have been collecting DNA samples from relatives, promising to send the results to Greece to help identify some of the victims.
Meanwhile, reports emerged Monday (June 19) morning of a freighter rescuing 68 migrants from a boat in distress near the Greek island of Kalymnos. The vessel is reported to have set sail from Turkey, according to German news agency dpa. All those rescued are unharmed and have been taken to the island of Leros to be registered.
With AP and dpa