{"id":2652,"date":"2023-12-14T14:43:00","date_gmt":"2023-12-14T14:43:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/captainsupport.net\/freepylos9\/?p=2652"},"modified":"2024-04-08T09:54:43","modified_gmt":"2024-04-08T09:54:43","slug":"rights-groups-decry-greek-investigation-into-migrant-shipwreck-that-left-more-than-500-dead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/captainsupport.net\/freepylos9\/rights-groups-decry-greek-investigation-into-migrant-shipwreck-that-left-more-than-500-dead\/","title":{"rendered":"Rights groups decry Greek investigation into migrant shipwreck that left more than 500 dead"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

*First Published on The Guardian<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International claim that authorities failed to mobilise \u2018appropriate resources\u2019, while Greece says the ship\u2019s crew refused assistance<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Helena Smith<\/a> in Athens<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Human rights groups have deplored the lack of progress made by Greek authorities in their investigation into the controversial circumstances in which a migrant ship sank off the Peloponnese \u2013 leaving more than 500 dead \u2013 in one of the Mediterranean\u2019s worst ever boat disasters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Amnesty International claim there are credible allegations<\/a> that the Hellenic Coast Guard\u2019s \u201cactions and omissions\u201d contributed to the 14 June shipwreck<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Six months on, with investigations far from over and survivors demanding justice, campaigners said there were concerns \u201cabout the prospects for accountability\u201d, because of the way the inquiry had been conducted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Pylos shipwreck appears to be another tragic example of Greek authorities\u2019 abdication of responsibility for saving lives at sea,\u201d said Judith Sunderland, associate Europe<\/a> and central Asia director at HRW.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA full accounting of what happened is paramount to securing truth and justice for survivors and families of the victims and to help avoid future deaths.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fishing trawler piloted by people smugglers from Libya and bound for Italy, sank about 50 miles (80km) off the southern Greek<\/a> town of Pylos in the early hours of 14 June, five days after it first set sail and 15 hours after Greek authorities were alerted to the boat being in their search and rescue region. Crammed with about 750 men, women and children it went down within minutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an ensuing rescue operation described as both fraught and chaotic, 104 male survivors \u2013 from Syria, Egypt and Pakistan \u2013 were brought ashore. The trawler, which sank in one of the Mediterranean\u2019s deepest areas, has yet to be found although in the days that followed 82 bodies were discovered.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Protesters<\/a>
Protesters release hot air balloons in front of the Greek parliament as a tribute to the victims of the shipwreck. Photograph: Spyros Bakalis\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

From the start, rights groups voiced concerns over the contrasting accounts of the events that led to the disaster. While survivors described<\/a> the vessel at first listing and then capsizing after coast guard officers tried to tow the trawler out of Hellenic waters, Greek officials say no such attempt was made<\/a>. Instead, they insist, the boat sank in international seas when the coastguard was about 70 meters away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But based on interviews with 21 survivors, five relatives of people still missing, representatives of the Greek coast guard and police, international aid organisations and the United Nations, Amnesty International<\/a> and Human Rights Watch claimed Greek authorities had not only failed to mobilise \u201cappropriate resources for a rescue\u201d but had \u201cignored or redirected\u201d offers of assistance from the EU border agency Frontex.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was no immediate reaction from Greek authorities to the report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rights groups argued that despite officials being alerted to the presence of children on board and informed that several passengers were \u201cvery sick,\u201d survivors\u2019 testimonies suggested the Greek patrol boat did nothing until it was too late.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Urging Greek authorities to prosecute officials in the event of sufficient evidence of wrongdoing, they claimed: \u201cSurvivors said that a coast guard patrol boat attached a rope to the Adriana [the trawler] and pulled, causing the boat to capsize. They also alleged that, after the boat capsized, the coast guard was slow to activate rescue operations, failed to maximise the number of people rescued and engaged in dangerous manoeuvres.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Campaigners have since said the authorities\u2019 handling of the incident was indicative of a pushback \u2013 aimed at forcibly evicting asylum seekers into neighbouring countries or, in this case, waters controlled by Italy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Greece\u2019s centre right government has repeatedly denied enforcing pushbacks<\/a> to keep migrants and refugees at bay but it does admit to implementing \u2018tough but fair\u2019 migration management policies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a BBC interview last month, the Greek prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis insisted it was the frontline country\u2019s right to intercept boats saying: \u201cWe\u2019re investigating this particular incident \u2026 at the same time, I\u2019ve been very open and forthcoming that we feel we have a right to intercept boats at sea and at the same time encourage these boats to return to the coast from where they left.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ship\u2019s crew had repeatedly rejected offers of help, he added. \u201cThey refused any assistance. They wanted to get to Italy. And at the end of the day we should hold the smugglers accountable, not the coast guard that is trying to do its job.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More than half of the dead passengers retrieved in Greek waters have since been identified through DNA tests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over half of the 40 survivors who have taken legal action against the Greek state \u2013 accusing the Mitsotakis government of pursuing a deterrence policy based on the criminalisation of migrants \u2013 have yet to give testimony.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nine Egyptian suspects<\/a> accused of overseeing the smuggling operation and detained since their arrest in Kalamata have yet to go on trial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Hellenic coast guard declined to respond to the claims of the human rights groups citing judicial and non-judicial investigations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Lefteris Papagiannakis, director of the Greek Council for refugees, which represents most of the survivors now demanding an investigation into the tragedy, time is of the essence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSomeone has to be held accountable, after all the shipwreck happened in Greece<\/a>,\u201d he told the Guardian. \u201cSurvivors, the families of victims, they all want justice. So many people perished. They are all lying at the bottom of the sea and the heart-breaking thing is that we will never know who they were, or how many there are.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

*First Published on The Guardian Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International claim that authorities failed to mobilise \u2018appropriate resources\u2019, while Greece says the ship\u2019s crew refused assistance Helena Smith in Athens Human rights groups have deplored the lack of progress made by Greek authorities in their investigation into the controversial circumstances in which a migrant ship sank off…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":2650,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[27],"class_list":["post-2652","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-news-el","category-news-articles-el","tag-english"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/captainsupport.net\/freepylos9\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2024\/04\/the-guardian-logo.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/captainsupport.net\/freepylos9\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2652","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/captainsupport.net\/freepylos9\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/captainsupport.net\/freepylos9\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/captainsupport.net\/freepylos9\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/captainsupport.net\/freepylos9\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2652"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/captainsupport.net\/freepylos9\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2652\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2761,"href":"https:\/\/captainsupport.net\/freepylos9\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2652\/revisions\/2761"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/captainsupport.net\/freepylos9\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2650"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/captainsupport.net\/freepylos9\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/captainsupport.net\/freepylos9\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/captainsupport.net\/freepylos9\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}