Greek coast markets blamed over 2023. Migrant shipwreck

The Naval Court in Greece has blamed 17 coastal markets for the deadliest migrant boat disaster in the Mediterranean for a decade.

Up to 650 people feared they had drowned when the overcrowded fishing ship Adriana sank near Pilos, to the Greek coast, in the early hours of June 14, 2023.

Later, the survivors told the BBC that the Greek coast markets had caused their boat to roll over in an attempt to pull it and then silence witnesses.

“It took us two years only to come these accusations, even though so many people witnessed the incident,” one of the survivors, a Syrian man we called Ahmad, said on Monday.

The Greek authorities have always denied the claims against them.

The Deputy Prosecutor of the Piraeus Naval Court found that 17 Hellene members of the Coast Guard should face criminal charges.

Among them is the captain of the Coast Guard ship, the LS-920, which is accused of “causing a shipwreck”, leading to the death of “at least 82 people”.

This corresponds to the number of restored bodies, although an additional 500 people are thought to have drowned, including women and children who were all under deck.

The disaster happened in international waters – but in the rescue zone of Greece.

The then chief of the Coast Guard and the head of the National Coordination and Rescue Coordination Center in Piraeus were among four employees accused of “exposure to others at risk”.

The captain of the LS-920 is also charged with “dangerous intervention of maritime transport” as well as “failure to provide assistance” to the migrants’ boat.

The ship’s crew has been charged with “simple complicity” in all the acts claimed to have been carried out by the captain.

The coast guide was watching Adriana for 15 hours before it sinks.

He had left Libya for Italy with approximately 750 people on board. It is known that only 104 of them have survived.

We are investigating the day of the disaster and our series of discoveries raised serious doubt in the official Greek version of the events.

Within a week, We have received delivery details Which challenged the claim that the boat of migrants had no problems and therefore did not need to be saved.

A month later the survivors told us Coast Guard had made their boat sink into a catastrophic effort To draw him and then forced to witness to remain silent.

Last year, Derived a case against nine EgyptiansAgainst the backdrop of allegations that they were bought by the Greek authorities.

Earlier this year, Audio records appeared which further challenged the official Greek version of the events.

For the first time, we met Syrian refugees who called Ahmad and Musaab to protect their identity a month after the disaster.

They said everyone paid $ 4,500 (£ 3.480) for a boat.

Ahmad’s younger brother was also on board and did not survive.

Musaab described us as soon as – he claims – the Greek coast markets made their boat sink.

“They attached a rope to the left,” he said. “Everyone moved to the right side of our boat to balance it. The Greek court moved quickly, causing our boat to turn. They continued to drag it a long distance.”

The men claimed that once on land, at the harbor of the Kalama, the Coast Guard told the survivors to “close” when they began to talk about how the Greek authorities caused the disaster.

“When people answered, saying that the Greek coast guards were the reason, the official employee answering the question asked the translator to tell the interviewer to stop talking,” Ahmad said.

He said the employees shouted, “You were experiencing death. Stop talking about the incident, don’t ask more questions about it.”

Today, Ahmad – who now lives in Germany – said he felt acquitted by the charges.

“I am very glad that they are ultimately responsible for everything they have done, but until I see them in prison, nothing has been done yet,” he said.

“To be honest, the Greek legal system is very unreliable.”

The joint legal team representing survivors and victims of the disaster said that the decision to follow the case against the 17 coast markets was a big step forward towards making justice.

A statement said: “Almost two years after the shipwreck of Pilos, the prosecutor’s office, and the targeting to the main investigation of crimes of 17 coast guards, including senior officials of its leadership, represent a significant and obvious development in the course of revenge to the victims and the provision of justice.”

Of course, the 17 men who are now accused will be questioned in the coming weeks by the Deputy Prosecutor of the Piraeus Naval Court.

The court will then decide whether to send them to a full process or to dismiss the charges.

It is not clear immediately what punishment the shores can receive if found guilty.

Earlier, Greece told the BBC that its coastal security fully respects human rights and saved over 250,000 people in the sea in the last decade.