More than 48 hours after an old fishing boat capsized in Greek waters, leaving a trail of hundreds of missing migrants and at least 78 bodies at sea, it is becoming increasingly difficult to reconstruct what happened. The main question is whether a timely rescue operation by the Greek authorities would have prevented the deaths. Rescuers rescued 104 people, all men, but it is believed scores of women and children were trapped in the ship’s hold when it sank, and no one knows exactly how many people were on the trawler. Nine people were arrested Thursday on suspicion of smuggling, the AP reported. Based on the accounts of the survivors, the International Organization for Migration calculated that between 700 and 750 people were on the ship. The estimate includes at least 40 children. These numbers suggest it could be one of the greatest tragedies ever recorded in the Mediterranean.
Official information is scarce and the Greek Coast Guard has shied away from any responsibility for the disaster. In an official statement, the agency stressed that the migrants refused assistance, only asking for food and insisting on continuing their journey to Italy, their destination. However, rescue operations are not subject to negotiations with the ship’s occupants, but are regulated by law. “Help is never a contract. If, for whatever reason, an authority cannot intervene, it must ask others to intervene,” explains Vittorio Alessandro, a retired admiral in the Italian Coast Guard. “The elements of intervention provided for in European regulations were in place: an overloaded boat, no lifeguards, no captain and poor seaworthiness,” he adds.
The story of this shipwreck is reminiscent of the story that happened on February 26 in Cutro, southern Italy, when a ship with almost 200 people on board sank 40 meters off the Italian coast. At least 94 refugees died, including 35 children. Both the European border protection agency Frontex and the Italian authorities had located the overcrowded fishing boat that got caught in the middle of a storm. The Italian Coast Guard only launched a rescue operation when the ship had already broken into pieces.
The following is a partial reconstruction of this recent shipwreck, based on information provided by NGOs, Greek authorities, Frontex and survivors who are being transferred from the port of Kalamata to the Malakasa refugee camp, 50 kilometers (31 miles) from Athens. They have their first hours on spent dry.
The farewell. The old trawler left Tobruk in eastern Libya on June 9, 150 kilometers (93 miles) from the border with Egypt. There is no certainty about the residents and the number varies between 400 and 750 depending on the source. Their nationality is also unclear, although Greek sources say the majority are Syrian, Egyptian and Pakistani. Two of these passengers were cousins of Tarek Aldroobi, a Syrian living in Germany, who traveled to the port of Kalamata, where the survivors were disembarked, only to find to his chagrin that his cousins were not among them. According to Aldroobi, each of the passengers paid between 4,000 and 6,000 euros. That is 14 times what it would cost to fly a traveler with a visa from Tripoli to Rome.
According to a confidential European Commission report, the sharp increase in the departures of large trawlers, capable of carrying up to 500 people, from eastern Libya was already a phenomenon verified by Frontex. According to the document, departures from Cyrenaica, the region where Tobruk is located, have increased by 531% this year compared to 2022. It’s not a coincidence. Since June 1, Libyan National Army (LNA) forces have detained more than 1,000 migrants in Tobruk and Musaid, both in the east of the country. “When I came to Europe from Libya, the boats left from the west and the journey took one day. But since the controls and the pressure increased, the ships have been sailing ever further east and now it takes six days to reach Italy,” says Aldroobi.
warnings. After four days of travel, on Tuesday, June 13, at 9:35 a.m., activist Nawal Soufi published the following message in Italian on her social networks: “I am leading the SOS of a ship with 750 people on board that departed from Libya and is in trouble right now. The people on board are in danger from drinking seawater, the water ran out after four days of navigation.”
The Hellenic Coast Guard statement said it received a communication from the Maritime Coordination Center in Rome at 11:00 am about a “fishing boat carrying a large number of migrants”. At 12:47, Frontex spotted the ship and notified the Italian and Greek authorities. The fishing vessel was 87 kilometers (54 miles) off the Greek coast.
The Greek strategy. Almost three hours after the official warning, at 1:50 p.m., the Greek authorities sent a helicopter in search of the ship. Less than 10 minutes later, the fishing boat was contacted for the first time. According to the Greek authorities, neither the coast guard nor Greece have been asked for help.
At 3:17 p.m., the organization Alarm Phone, which manages an emergency number for migrants on their way to Europe, reported the first call from the ship in Greece. In a subsequent call at 5:13 p.m., one of the occupants reassured them that the boat was not moving, that they lacked water and food, and added a disturbing fact: “The captain escaped in a small boat. Please, we need a solution.” According to them, at the time of this second call, they received the ship’s GPS coordinates and, after unsuccessfully trying to get more information, at 5:53 pm they sent an email “to the Greek authorities and other agents, including Frontex”. ‘ to warn her.
The helicopter sighted the ship at 14:35 and the aerial photos were released by local media. On them it is possible to see dozens of people on the deck huddled together raising their hands to the sky. According to the Greek authorities, “it sailed at a constant course and speed and with a large number of people on the outer decks.”
When the Greek Coast Guard sent one of their frigates into the area, maritime authorities radioed nearby vessels to change course and report on the movements and general condition of the fishing vessel.
This undated handout picture provided by the Greek Coast Guard on Wednesday shows dozens of people covering virtually every free part of the deck of a battered fishing boat that later capsized and sank off southern Greece. Associated Press/LaPresse (APN)
Food and the alleged refusal to help. At 18:00, a second Coast Guard helicopter took off to monitor the fishing boat and Greek authorities contacted the occupants for the second time. On the other side of the satellite phone, according to the official statement, a voice in English assured that the ship was “not in danger” and that they only wanted food and water because they wanted to “continue to Italy”.
The version that the migrants refused help does not correspond to the information provided by the NGO and the activist who was in contact with the passengers. “The ship is overcrowded and moving from side to side,” Alarm Phone heard in one of its messages.
At 4:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. respectively, two boats flying the Maltese and Greek flags came to bring food to the fishing boat. Activist Nawal Soufi posted her version of events on Facebook: “The situation became even more complicated when one boat came right up to the other, tied ropes at two points and started throwing water bottles.” Migrants felt in grave danger, because they feared that the ropes would capsize the boat and the struggles for the water would lead to a shipwreck […] The situation became even more dramatic: the migrants were confused and did not understand whether this was a rescue operation or a way to put their lives in even more danger.”
Anabel Montes, who until two months ago was in charge of rescue operations aboard the humanitarian ship Geo Barents and has more than eight years of experience in the field, questions the Greek Coast Guard’s approach. For them, approaching the fishing boat is “a very dangerous maneuver” that can lead to a sudden movement that destabilizes the ship. Montes explains that the ship’s stability was badly affected. “The more people and the higher, the easier it is for the metacenter to rise and capsize the ship,” she said.
Surveillance without rescue. According to the Greek statement, the maritime authorities monitored the ship from 15:30 to 21:00 from their operations room. At 10:40 p.m., a Coast Guard boat approached the fishing vessel and observed it “from a distance”. “There were no problems with navigation, as the course and speed remained constant,” says the official version. Then at 1:40 a.m. a call from the ship reported that the engine had failed and they were no longer moving. The Coast Guard ship then approached and confirmed the warning. According to the Greek authorities, 24 minutes later the fishing boat swayed heavily and capsized. Within 15 minutes, the ship sank completely and its occupants disappeared in one of the deepest areas of the Mediterranean. Only then did the authorities initiate a rescue operation.
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