{"id":2662,"date":"2023-06-16T10:32:00","date_gmt":"2023-06-16T10:32:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/captainsupport.net\/freepylos9\/?p=2662"},"modified":"2024-04-02T10:35:59","modified_gmt":"2024-04-02T10:35:59","slug":"greece-shipwreck-hopes-of-finding-survivors-fade-on-final-day-of-search","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/captainsupport.net\/freepylos9\/greece-shipwreck-hopes-of-finding-survivors-fade-on-final-day-of-search\/","title":{"rendered":"Greece shipwreck: hopes of finding survivors fade on final day of search"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Nine suspects expected to face court as search enters third day and initial response to disaster is criticised<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Rescuers have launched the third and final day of their search for survivors of one of the Mediterranean\u2019s worst boat disasters, as authorities detained nine suspected people-smugglers and criticism of Greece\u2019s initial response mounted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Greek coastguard said on Friday a helicopter, a frigate and three smaller vessels were searching waters 50 miles (80 km) from the southern town of Pylos where the fishing boat, reportedly carrying between 400 and 750 people, sank on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Greek authorities have confirmed 78 deaths and said 104 survivors \u2013 mostly from Syria, Egypt and Pakistan \u2013 have been brought ashore, but police believe as many as 500 are missing, with witnesses saying up to 100 children were in the ship\u2019s hold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most of the survivors were being moved to shelters near Athens from a warehouse at the southern port of Kalamata. No more had been found since Wednesday and officials said the search would be halted later on Friday.https:\/\/interactive.guim.co.uk\/uploader\/embed\/2023\/06\/migrant-boatsinkingmapupdate\/giv-134255AaSbmj2uo4o\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHopes of finding survivors are fading each minute after this tragic sinking but the search must continue,\u201d said Stella Nanou of the UN refugee agency, the UNHCR. She said broadcast images and survivor accounts suggested \u201chundreds were aboard\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The UN\u2019s high commissioner for human rights, Volker T\u00fcrk, on Friday called the disaster \u201ca horrific tragedy\u201d, adding that the loss of life underlined the need to bring people-smugglers to justice and calling on states to open up more regular migration channels.https:\/\/interactive.guim.co.uk\/uploader\/embed\/2023\/06\/eucrossings-zip\/giv-13425BKTiCZx98x4Q\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Authorities were holding nine of the survivors, all men of Egyptian descent, ranging in age from 20 to 40, on allegations of people-smuggling and participating in a criminal enterprise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arrested on Thursday night, they are suspected of masterminding the illegal voyage to Italy from Tobruk in Libya, after first setting out from Egypt <\/strong><\/em>with the fishing trawler. \u201cThey are in custody and will appear before a local magistrate,\u201d Nikos Alexiou, the Hellenic coastguard spokesperson, told the Guardian.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A public prosecutor is likely to press several charges against the group including mass murder. There were conflicting reports about whether the ship\u2019s captain was among those arrested, with some local media saying he had died when the vessel went down.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"'Drowned,
‘Drowned, alive, we don’t know’: father of missing migrant speaks out after shipwreck \u2013 video<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Greek authorities were criticised for not acting earlier, despite a coastguard vessel escorting the boat for hours. Officials said people on the boat repeatedly refused assistance and insisted on continuing to Italy, but legal experts said that was no excuse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Greek coastguard said it was notified of the boat\u2019s presence late on Tuesday morning and observed by helicopter that it was \u201csailing on a steady course\u201d at 6pm. A little later, someone on the boat was reached by satellite phone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The person said that the passengers needed food and water, but wanted to continue to Italy. \u201cIt was a fishing boat packed with people who refused our assistance because they wanted to go to Italy,\u201d Alexiou told Skai TV.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe stayed beside it in case it needed our assistance, which they had refused.\u201d Merchant ships delivered supplies and observed the vessel until early on Wednesday morning, when the satellite phone user reported a problem with the engine.https:\/\/interactive.guim.co.uk\/uploader\/embed\/2023\/06\/centralmedcrossings-zip\/giv-13425naFYgb2X4XaR\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

About 40 minutes later, according to a coastguard statement, the boat began to rock violently and sank. Coastguard experts believe it may have run out of fuel or had engine trouble and that passengers moving inside caused it to list and capsize.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Greece\u2019s caretaker minister for civil protection, Evangelos Tournas, said the coastguard could not intervene in international waters with a vessel refusing assistance. \u201cAn intervention by the coastguard could have placed an overloaded vessel in danger, which could capsize as a result,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Prof Erik R\u00f8s\u00e6g of the University of Oslo\u2019s Institute of Private Law said maritime law would have required Greek authorities to attempt a rescue if the boat was unsafe, regardless of whether those onboard requested it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Greek authorities \u201chad a duty to start rescue procedures\u201d given the condition of the trawler, R\u00f8s\u00e6g told Associated Press, adding that a captain\u2019s refusal of assistance could be overruled if deemed unreasonable \u2013 which he said this appeared to be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An independent refugee activist, Nawal Soufi, said in a Facebook post that she had been in touch with the boat throughout Tuesday and in the last call, \u201cthe man I was talking to expressly told me: \u2018I feel that this will be our last night alive.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aerial pictures released by Greek authorities of the boat hours before it sank showed dozens of people on the boat\u2019s upper and lower decks looking up, some with arms outstretched.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under its recent conservative government, Greece has taken a far harder stance on migration, building walled camps and boosting border controls. The country is currently governed by a caretaker administration pending an election on 25 June.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Human rights groups say an EU crackdown on smuggling has forced people to take longer, more dangerous routes. Eftychia Georgiadi of the International Rescue Committee charity said the bloc had failed to offer more safe pathways to migration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That \u201ceffectively slams the door on people seeking protection\u201d, Georgiadi said. \u201cNobody embarks on these treacherous journeys unless they feel they have no other option,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Thursday evening, thousands of protesters rallied in Athens and the northern city of Thessaloniki, demanding EU migration policies be eased to prevent another tragedy. A group of protesters in the capital threw petrol bombs at police.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alexis Tsipras, who was prime minister from 2015-2019 at the peak of Europe\u2019s migration crisis, said on Thursday: \u201cThe immigration policy that Europe<\/a> has been following for years \u2026 turns the Mediterranean, our seas, into watery graves.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tsipras, now an opposition leader, said: \u201cWhat sort of protocol does not call for the rescue \u2026 of an overloaded boat about to sink?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Associated Press and Agence France-Presse contributed to this report.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nine suspects expected to face court as search enters third day and initial response to disaster is criticised *First Published on The Guardian Rescuers have launched the third and final day of their search for survivors of one of the Mediterranean\u2019s worst boat disasters, as authorities detained nine suspected people-smugglers and criticism of Greece\u2019s initial response mounted.…<\/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-2662","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\/2662","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=2662"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/captainsupport.net\/freepylos9\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2662\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2664,"href":"https:\/\/captainsupport.net\/freepylos9\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2662\/revisions\/2664"}],"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=2662"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/captainsupport.net\/freepylos9\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2662"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/captainsupport.net\/freepylos9\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2662"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}