On 14 June 2023, the ''Adriana'', an Italy-bound fishing trawler
smuggling migrants, sank in
international waters
The terms international waters or transboundary waters apply where any of the following types of bodies of water (or their drainage basins) transcend international boundaries: oceans, large marine ecosystems, enclosed or semi-enclosed region ...
in the part of the
Mediterranean
The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...
known as the
Ionian Sea
The Ionian Sea (, ; or , ; , ) is an elongated bay of the Mediterranean Sea. It is connected to the Adriatic Sea to the north, and is bounded by Southern Italy, including Basilicata, Calabria, Sicily, and the Salento peninsula to the west, ...
, off the coast of
Pylos
Pylos (, ; ), historically also known as Navarino, is a town and a former Communities and Municipalities of Greece, municipality in Messenia, Peloponnese (region), Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform, it has been part of ...
,
Messenia
Messenia or Messinia ( ; ) is a regional unit (''perifereiaki enotita'') in the southwestern part of the Peloponnese region, in Greece. Until the implementation of the Kallikratis plan on 1 January 2011, Messenia was a prefecture (''nomos' ...
, Greece.
The boat had a capacity of 400 people,
carried an estimated 400 to 750 migrants,
mostly from Pakistan, Syria, Palestine, and Egypt, and some from Afghanistan.
After departing from
Tobruk
Tobruk ( ; ; ) is a port city on Libya's eastern Mediterranean coast, near the border with Egypt. It is the capital of the Butnan District (formerly Tobruk District) and has a population of 120,000 (2011 est.)."Tobruk" (history), ''Encyclop� ...
, Libya, on 10 June, concerns were raised by 13 June, with the vessel then located in the
Maritime Search and Rescue
Search and rescue (SAR) is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger. The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, typically determined by the type of terrain the search ...
(SAR) zone assigned to Greece.
The
Hellenic Coast Guard
The Hellenic Coast Guard () is the national coast guard of Greece. Like many other coast guards, it is a paramilitary organization that can support the Hellenic Navy in wartime, but resides under separate civilian control in times of peace. The ...
(HCG) helicopter and later the HCG vessel ΠΠΛΣ-920
arrived on scene, took aerial photos of the vessel, made offers of assistance that were allegedly refused,
then by some accounts remained there as an observer until the boat capsized and sank, despite calm weather conditions.
After the ''Adriana'' had sunk "close to the deepest part of the Mediterranean Sea", the HCG and the military initiated a massive search and rescue operation. One hundred and four men were rescued, and 82 bodies were recovered. By 18 June, officials had acknowledged that over 500 people were "presumed dead."
By July 2023, investigations by the BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
, the ''New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'', ''The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'', German public broadcaster ARD/ NDR/Funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...
and Greek investigative outlet Solomon
Solomon (), also called Jedidiah, was the fourth monarch of the Kingdom of Israel (united monarchy), Kingdom of Israel and Judah, according to the Hebrew Bible. The successor of his father David, he is described as having been the penultimate ...
, together with research agency Forensis research groupa sister organisation of Forensic Architecture
Forensic Architecture is a multidisciplinary research group based at Goldsmiths, University of London that uses architectural techniques and technologies to investigate cases of state violence and violations of human rights around the world. The ...
, cast doubts on the original reports by the HCG. Based on survivors' interviews, court documents, and sources from the coastguards they found evidence suggesting that the HCG ship may have caused the overcrowded vessel to capsize while attempting to tow it, which HCG denies. The HCG said it was caused by a "commotion" on the vessel.[ When the ''Adriana'' capsized and sank shortly after 2:00 AM (]EEST
Eastern European Summer Time (EEST) is one of the names of the UTC+03:00 time zone, which is 3 hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time. It is used as a summer daylight saving time in some European and Middle Eastern countries, which makes it ...
), the only vessel present was the HCG vessel ΠΠΛΣ-920 manned by a team that included four armed special operations coast guards wearing masks.[
The ]European Ombudsman
The European Ombudsman is an inter-institutional body of the European Union that holds the institutions, bodies and agencies of the EU to account, and promotes good administration. The Ombudsman helps people, businesses and organisations facing ...
is investigating accusations that European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...
(EU) border protection agency, Frontex
The European Border and Coast Guard Agency, commonly known as Frontex (from French ''frontières extérieures'', "external borders"), is an agency of the European Union headquartered in Warsaw, Poland. In coordination with the border and coast gu ...
, and the HCG did not take preventative steps to avoid the shipwreck. By a year after the disaster, both Amnesty International
Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...
and Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Headquartered in New York City, the group investigates and reports on issues including War crime, war crimes, crim ...
had criticized the slow progress of official investigations.
Background
Although the European migrant crisis had reached a peak in 2015, the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol) reported in 2018 that there were at least 65,000 migrant smugglers being tracked in the booming illegal trade, which had become one of the "fastest growing forms of international organised crime." The people-smuggling business developed as a result of Libya's ongoing crisis, alongside instability in neighboring countries, with Libya becoming a hub for moving migrants and refugees across the Mediterranean
The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...
into Europe. According to a February 2023 International Organization for Migration
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is a United Nations related organization working in the field of migration. The organization implements operational assistance programmes for Human migration, migrants, including internally displa ...
(IOM) report, there were over 706,062 migrants representing 44 nationalities in a hundred Libyan municipalities and the numbers continue to rise.
The 2022–2023 Pakistani economic crisis
The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...
hampered Pakistan's ability to import essential food products, and forced Pakistani people to seek opportunities abroad.
The IOM declared the Northern Africa to Italy sea route for migrants and refugees seeking to get to Europe as the deadliest on earth, which has recorded 21,000 deaths since 2014. Human smugglers crowd migrants into unseaworthy
Seakeeping ability or seaworthiness is a measure of how well-suited a watercraft is to conditions when underway. A ship or boat which has good seakeeping ability is said to be very seaworthy and is able to operate effectively even in high sea sta ...
vessels, often in locked holds for days-long journeys.
According to the BBC, in 2023 most migrants and refugees land in Italy because it is closer to Western Europe
Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's extent varies depending on context.
The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the Western half of the ancient Mediterranean ...
than Greece.
Such maritime smuggling routes into Europe have seen an increasing number of fatal incidents: 3,800 people died in 2022 while traversing migrant and refugee routes from the Middle East and North Africa
The Middle East and North Africa (MENA), also referred to as West Asia and North Africa (WANA) or South West Asia and North Africa (SWANA), is a geographic region which comprises the Middle East (also called West Asia) and North Africa together ...
, of whom 3,789 died on sea-based routes in and around the region. On 26 February 2023, at least 94 people died when a wooden boat from İzmir
İzmir is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara. It is on the Aegean Sea, Aegean coast of Anatolia, and is the capital of İzmir Province. In 2024, the city of İzmir had ...
, Turkey, sank off Cutro Cutro ( Calabrian: ; Greek: ''Kytèrion'') is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Crotone, Calabria region, Italy. It holds the name "City of chess".
It is also the birthplace of Vincenzo Iaquinta, a World Cup-winning footballer who playe ...
in Southern Italy
Southern Italy (, , or , ; ; ), also known as () or (; ; ; ), is a macroregion of Italy consisting of its southern Regions of Italy, regions.
The term "" today mostly refers to the regions that are associated with the people, lands or cultu ...
in the deadliest Mediterranean maritime incident of 2023 up to that point.
Since 2015, when the stream of Middle Eastern, Asian, and African migrants and refugees attempting to enter European Union nations reached its height, Greece became the "main thoroughfare". Greek authorities have argued that the number of newly arrived migrants places a "disproportionate burden" on them. Shortly after the Pylos shipwreck, a spokesperson from the Greek migration ministry told the BBC that he wanted a European Union migration policy that accepted migrants who were in need, not just those who can afford to pay smugglers.
With the election of the center-right New Democracy party leader, Kyriakos Mitsotakis
Kyriakos Mitsotakis (, ; born 4 March 1968) is a Greek politician currently serving as the prime minister of Greece since July 2019, except for a month between May and June 2023. Mitsotakis has been president of the New Democracy (Greece), New ...
as prime minister in 2019 the country took a "harder line" against the tens of thousands of asylum seekers in Greeceoften Syrian war refugees.
Since 2015, with hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers attempting to enter the European Union member states, the word "pushback
Pushback may refer to:
* Pushback (aviation), a vehicle for towing airplanes
* Pushback (migration), any measure aimed at forcing migrants to return over a border
* Backlash (disambiguation)
{{disambiguation ...
" entered the EU lexicon. In the 2021 report of the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, Felipe González Morales defined pushbacks as "measures, actions or policies effectively resulting in the removal of migrants, individually or in groups, without an individualized assessment in line with human rights obligations and due process guarantees. According to a 19 July 2023 article by the German public broadcaster, Deutsche Welle
(; "German Wave"), commonly shortened to DW (), is a German state-funded television network, state-owned international broadcaster funded by the Federal Government of Germany. The service is available in 32 languages. DW's satellite tele ...
(DW), pushbacks had "become so so systematic, they are de facto policy." In 2021, Amnesty International
Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...
has said that Greece has used pushbacks as their "de facto border policy" to discourage asylum seekers.
A July 2023 BBC article about the deadly Pylos shipwreck said that there was an increase in international attention to pushbacks in Greece following the ''New York Times'' 19 May release of video footage taken on Lesbos, Greece, where 12 asylum seekers, including an infant, were forced into a van, taken by speedboat to a HCG vessel, transferred to an inflatable raft in the Aegean Sea, then abandoned at sea under the hot sun.
A BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
article from June 2024 alleges that the Greek coastguard has, on occasion, purposefully forced people out of territorial waters, even after individuals have reached the Greek islands. Over the course of 2020 to 2023, 15 incidences resulting in 43 deaths occurred. Migrants alleged that the coastguard physically threw them overboard.
The migrant boat, the ''Adriana''
The Italy-bound "rusted, aging", overloaded migrant boat was a fishing trawler, named ''Adriana'', that was estimated to be around long. The Greek newspaper, ''Kathimerini
( Greek: Η Καθημερινή, ; ) is a daily, political and financial morning newspaper published in Piraeus, Athens. Its first edition was printed on 15 September 1919. is considered a newspaper of record and the leading right-wing newspape ...
'', had reported on 9 June that smugglers had to convince apprehensive migrants to get on board a boat they thought was incapable of making "the more-than-five-hundred-nautical-mile journey" with hundreds of passengers. It had departed from Tobruk
Tobruk ( ; ; ) is a port city on Libya's eastern Mediterranean coast, near the border with Egypt. It is the capital of the Butnan District (formerly Tobruk District) and has a population of 120,000 (2011 est.)."Tobruk" (history), ''Encyclop� ...
, a city in Cyrenaica
Cyrenaica ( ) or Kyrenaika (, , after the city of Cyrene), is the eastern region of Libya. Cyrenaica includes all of the eastern part of Libya between the 16th and 25th meridians east, including the Kufra District. The coastal region, als ...
, Libya, south of the Greek island of Crete
Crete ( ; , Modern Greek, Modern: , Ancient Greek, Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the List of islands by area, 88th largest island in the world and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fifth la ...
, on 10 June 2023. According to one estimate the boat had the capacity to carry at most 400 people, but could have been carrying up to 750 people including men, women, and children. According to a PBS Newshour
''PBS News Hour'', previously stylized as ''PBS NewsHour'', is the news division of PBS and an American daily evening news broadcasting#television, television news program broadcast on over 350 PBS Network affiliate#Member stations, member stat ...
report, traffickers charged each passenger US$4,500, which meant that the traffickers could have potentially made more than US$3 million. Aerial photos showing the boat's overladen upper and lower decks were taken by the HCG hours before the boat capsized.
Initially, the IOM estimated that around 400 were aboard. Ioannis Zafiropoulos, the deputy mayor of the Greek port city of Kalamata
Kalamata ( ) is the second most populous city of the Peloponnese peninsula in southern Greece after Patras, and the largest city of the Peloponnese (region), homonymous administrative region. As the capital and chief port of the Messenia regiona ...
, stated that there were over 500.
No one on board had a life jacket. The ''Washington Post'' reported after the tragedy that rescue ship best practice includes the distribution of life jackets via smaller boats.
Distress calls and response
At 9:55 a.m. (EEST
Eastern European Summer Time (EEST) is one of the names of the UTC+03:00 time zone, which is 3 hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time. It is used as a summer daylight saving time in some European and Middle Eastern countries, which makes it ...
) on Tuesday, 13 June, Nawal Soufi, an activist posted on Twitter (now X), that the fishing vessel ''Adriana'' was in distress. She wrote, "At this moment I was told by the group of migrants on board the boat in distress with 750 people that 6 people are dead and two others are in critical condition. I hope from the bottom of my heart to be proven wrong by someone." Her second tweet included the coordinates of the fishing boat. According to the Refugee Support Aegean (RSA), this was the first public announcement of the fishing boat's distress.
Alarm Phone, a European rescue-support charity had also received a distress callthe person calling said that there were about 750 people on board. Alarm Phone reported that the passengers were saying that the captain had abandoned the ship.
At 11:00 a.m. (EEST
Eastern European Summer Time (EEST) is one of the names of the UTC+03:00 time zone, which is 3 hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time. It is used as a summer daylight saving time in some European and Middle Eastern countries, which makes it ...
) on 13 June, the Italian coast guard alerted Greek authorities and the European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...
(EU) border protection agency, Frontex
The European Border and Coast Guard Agency, commonly known as Frontex (from French ''frontières extérieures'', "external borders"), is an agency of the European Union headquartered in Warsaw, Poland. In coordination with the border and coast gu ...
, of the vessel in distress and also told the HCG that there were two dead children on board, according to the RSA. The Italian authorities informed the HCG of the peculiar movements of the vessel. The HCG said that Frontex aircraft and two merchant ships
A merchant ship, merchant vessel, trading vessel, or merchantman is a watercraft that transports cargo or carries passengers for hire. This is in contrast to pleasure craft, which are used for personal recreation, and naval ships, which are ...
detected the vessel approaching north at high speeds, prompting the dispatch of more aircraft and vessels. Offers for aid were made to the ship but were refused according to the HCG.
The Coast Guard claimed in official statements that the boat and its passengers had refused assistance because its destination was Italy, and so its boats had hung back.
In the afternoon, one of the merchant ships approached the ''Adriana'' and offered it assistance; the passengers refused it. Another merchant ship later did the same and received the same response. A HCG patrol approached the deck of the vessel in the evening, where they confirmed the presence of a large number of migrants. The migrants again refused any aid, stating that they wished to continue to Italy. In all three instances, the migrants stated that they wanted food and water, which the Greek patrol ship and a Maltese- flagged merchant ship provided. The Greek patrol later accompanied the vessel.
Capsizing
At around 1:40 a.m. (EEST
Eastern European Summer Time (EEST) is one of the names of the UTC+03:00 time zone, which is 3 hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time. It is used as a summer daylight saving time in some European and Middle Eastern countries, which makes it ...
) on 14 June, the HCG learned that the ''Adriana'' engine had broken down. After receiving a plea for aid, HCG officers then approached the ship. They stated that they then "saw the boat take a right turn, then a sharp left, and then another right so big that it caused the vessel to capsize." (Later the HCG said that they had used one rope during their assessment of the situation, some two hours before the ship capsized.) Around 10 to 15 minutes later, the ''Adriana'' sank, sending its passengers into the waves of the Ionian Sea
The Ionian Sea (, ; or , ; , ) is an elongated bay of the Mediterranean Sea. It is connected to the Adriatic Sea to the north, and is bounded by Southern Italy, including Basilicata, Calabria, Sicily, and the Salento peninsula to the west, ...
. Survivors of the shipwreck have stated that a HCG vessel caused the fishing boat to capsize by attempting to tow it at dangerously high speeds, despite passengers' cries of distress to stop. Survivors have also stated that during their ensuing interrogations they were advised by interrogators not to discuss the boat having been towed, and that reports from individual interrogations reading word-for-word identically would suggest that their testimonies were altered. The ship sank around off the coast of Pylos
Pylos (, ; ), historically also known as Navarino, is a town and a former Communities and Municipalities of Greece, municipality in Messenia, Peloponnese (region), Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform, it has been part of ...
, Messenia
Messenia or Messinia ( ; ) is a regional unit (''perifereiaki enotita'') in the southwestern part of the Peloponnese region, in Greece. Until the implementation of the Kallikratis plan on 1 January 2011, Messenia was a prefecture (''nomos' ...
, in the Peloponnese
The Peloponnese ( ), Peloponnesus ( ; , ) or Morea (; ) is a peninsula and geographic region in Southern Greece, and the southernmost region of the Balkans. It is connected to the central part of the country by the Isthmus of Corinth land bridg ...
, in an area around deep, which has been described as being near the "deepest part of the Mediterranean Sea".
Victims
By 18 June, officials acknowledged that over 500 people were presumed dead.
Of the 104 survivors, there were no women and children. The smugglers kept the women and children locked in the hold. Based on survivor accounts, it is believed that up to 100 children were being held at the time of the sinking.
According to leaked testimonies told by survivors, Pakistanis were allegedly forced below deck, with other nationalities allowed on the top deck, where they had a far greater chance of surviving a capsize. Pakistan's Interior Minister, Rana Sanaullah
Rana Sanaullah Khan (; born 1 January 1955) is a Pakistani lawyer and politician who is currently serving as Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Political Affairs since April 2024. Previously, he served as the 39th Interior Minister of Pak ...
, said that there were at least 350 Pakistani victims on the overloaded vessel. Of the thirty people from the small city of Kotli
Kotli ( Pahari-Pothwari / ; ) is a city and headquarters of the Kotli District in Pakistan-administered Azad Kashmir. The city lies along the Poonch River, which is known for its natural secenary and waterfalls. According to the 2017 Census ...
, only two survived. Pakistan's Federal Investigation Agency
The Federal Investigation Agency (; reporting name: FIA) is a border control, criminal investigation, counter-intelligence and security agency under the control of the Interior Secretary of Pakistan, tasked with investigative jurisdiction on u ...
has stated that only 12 of the survivors were Pakistani, and that 209 are amongst those still missing (181 from Pakistan and 28 from Pakistan-administered Kashmir
Kashmir ( or ) is the Northwestern Indian subcontinent, northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term ''Kashmir'' denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir P ...
). Earlier reports claimed that there were 298 Pakistanis missing, of whom 135 were from Kashmir.
The search for the missing lasted until 15 June with only 82 bodies, including the captain, recovered. ''The Guardian'' described it as one of the deadliest shipwrecks of 2023 in the Mediterranean sea.[
]
Search, rescue, and detention
Immediately following the sinking, the HCG and the military initiated a massive search and rescue operation. This account has been disputed by survivors who stated that, "The Greek boat tied a rope in the middle of the boat. It went right, left and then right again, very quickly. Then the boat capsized, and everyone fell into the water," and "Then, they he Greek coast guardsailed away and watched us from afar. We spent about two hours in the water." The HCG later stated that the onboard camera recording system was not working, and that telephone data from critical moments in the operation was not recorded.
The operation was complicated by strong winds in the area. Survivors were transferred to Kalamata
Kalamata ( ) is the second most populous city of the Peloponnese peninsula in southern Greece after Patras, and the largest city of the Peloponnese (region), homonymous administrative region. As the capital and chief port of the Messenia regiona ...
. After rescuing 104 survivors, the Greek authorities stated that they expected to find no more, leaving hundreds still missing. The ''Mayan Queen IV'', a luxury superyacht, was notified by the HCG to transport 100 of the 104 rescued survivors, as well as recovered bodies, to Kalamata.[
The survivors were bussed from Kalamata port to the Reception and Identification Center (RIC) in ]Malakasa
Malakasa () is a village and former community of East Attica in Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Oropos, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an area of 10.450 km2. The municipal ...
.
Protests
On 15 July, thousands protested the European Union's migration policies with protesters converging in Athens and Thessaloniki. Some protestors in Athens threw petrol bombs at police and were teargassed. Protesters in Kalamata demonstrated near the migrant facilities, with one banner reading: "Crocodile tears
Crocodile tears are false or insincere displays of emotion.
''Crocodile Tears'' may also refer to:
* ''Crocodile Tears'' (film), a 2024 film by Tumpal Tampubolon
* ''Crocodile Tears'' (novel), an ''Alex Rider'' novel by Anthony Horowitz
*''Croco ...
! No to the EU's pact on migration".
Many left-wing organisations, trade unions, anti-racist collectives and parties, including the Communist Party of Greece
The Communist Party of Greece (, ΚΚΕ; ''Kommounistikó Kómma Elládas'', KKE) is a Marxist–Leninist political party in Greece. It was founded in 1918 as the Socialist Workers' Party of Greece (SEKE) and adopted its current name in Novem ...
, called for protests on 15 June in solidarity with the refugees and against pushbacks and border fences intended to control migration.
On 18 July, the Greek Archaeological Society
The Archaeological Society of Athens () is an independent learned society. Also termed the Greek Archaeological Society, it was founded in 1837 by Konstantinos Bellios, just a few years after the establishment of the modern Greek State, with the ...
hosted an event in which, among other issues, the sinking was discussed, with the Greek government responding by evicting the society from its headquarters.
Response
Ioannis Sarmas
Ioannis Sarmas (; born 21 March 1957) is a Greek judge and politician who briefly served as the caretaker Prime Minister of Greece in 2023. He was also the chairman of the Greek Court of Audit from 2019 to 2023.
Because the May 2023 Greek legi ...
who served in the role of caretaker prime minister for several weeks in 2023 following his appointment 25 May 2023 by President Katerina Sakellaropoulou
Katerina N. Sakellaropoulou ( ; born 30 May 1956) is a Greek retired judge who served as the president of Greece from 2020 to 2025. She was elected by the Hellenic Parliament to succeed Prokopis Pavlopoulos on 22 January 2020. Prior to her electi ...
, announced three days of national mourning. Sakellaropoulou visited some of the survivors and conveyed her condolences. A special meeting of ministers to discuss assistance for survivors was held on 15 June, where then Sarmas ensured the respect of rights to communicate via phone or email with family members was granted to survivors who are being held at the Reception and Identification Center (RIC) in Malakasa
Malakasa () is a village and former community of East Attica in Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Oropos, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an area of 10.450 km2. The municipal ...
, since Friday.
The opposition leader, Alexis Tsipras
Alexis Tsipras (, ; born 28 July 1974) is a Greek politician who served as Prime Minister of Greece from 2015 to 2019.
A left-wing figure, Tsipras was leader of the List of political parties in Greece, Greek political party Syriza from 200 ...
, said he had visited Kalamata port and spoken with survivors who said they had "called for help". He asked: "What sort of protocol does not call for the rescue... of an overloaded boat about to sink?" Tsipras said European migration policy "turns the Mediterranean, our seas, into watery graves". The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen
Ursula Gertrud von der Leyen (; ; born 8 October 1958) is a German politician, serving as president of the European Commission since 2019. She served in the Cabinet of Germany, German federal government between 2005 and 2019, holding position ...
, promised that European Union member nations would work towards together to "crack down on migrant smuggling practices".
Because of the large death toll of Pakistanis, the Pakistani prime minister Shehbaz Sharif
Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif (born 23 September 1951) is a Pakistani politician and businessman who has served as the 20th Prime Minister of Pakistan, prime minister of Pakistan since March 2024, having previously been in the role between Ap ...
declared a day of mourning on 19 June 2023. The Pakistani newspaper ''Dawn
Dawn is the time that marks the beginning of twilight before sunrise. It is recognized by the diffuse sky radiation, appearance of indirect sunlight being Rayleigh scattering, scattered in Earth's atmosphere, when the centre of the Sun's disc ha ...
'' editorialised that "racist laws, anti-migration policies" which aimed to prevent migrants from entering safely and legally were to blame for the deaths of thousands of refugees.
The former US president Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...
contrasted the way in which the public turned a "blind eye" to the 14 June ''Adriana'' migrant boat tragedywhich received little media attentionwith the "obsessive", "minute-by-minute", "twenty-four hour" coverage of the 18 June OceanGate ''Titan'' submersible implosion, in which five tourists in the submersible
A submersible is an underwater vehicle which needs to be transported and supported by a larger ship, watercraft or dock, platform. This distinguishes submersibles from submarines, which are self-supporting and capable of prolonged independent ope ...
died in their failed attempt to visit the wreckage of the ''Titanic
RMS ''Titanic'' was a British ocean liner that sank in the early hours of 15 April 1912 as a result of striking an iceberg on her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, United States. Of the estimated 2,224 passengers a ...
''. Survivors of the ''Adriana'' wreck requested that the ship be raised and the bodies recovered but were told this would be too difficult and the waters too deep. The survivors contrasted the unwillingness of the authorities with the vast amount of money and resources spent in locating and ultimately recovering the remains of the ''Titan'' submersible.
The ''New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'',[ '']Washington Post
''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...
'', ''The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'', ''The Conversation
''The Conversation'' is a 1974 American neo-noir mystery thriller film written, produced, and directed by Francis Ford Coppola. It stars Gene Hackman as a surveillance expert who faces a moral dilemma when his recordings reveal a potential ...
'', Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Headquartered in New York City, the group investigates and reports on issues including War crime, war crimes, crim ...
, Amnesty International
Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...
, UNCHR
The United Nations Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) was a functional commission within the United Nations System, overall framework of the United Nations from 1946 until it was replaced by the United Nations Human Rights Council in 2006. It was a ...
Greece and Refugee Support Aegean (RSA) described the deadly Pylos shipwreck as preventable.
Judicial proceedings
Against trafficking suspects
By the evening of 16 June the Greek authorities had arrested nine suspects, all men of Egyptian descent, believed to have been responsible for the people-smuggling operation. On 19 June, the men, aged between 20 and 40, accused of human smuggling
People smuggling (also called human smuggling), under U.S. law, is "the facilitation, transportation, attempted transportation or illegal entry of a person or persons across an international border, in violation of one or more countries' laws, ...
and operating the boat, appeared in a Greek court in Kalamata and pleaded not guilty. About 20 mobile phones that had been confiscated by the Greek Coast Guard were surrendered to the court in late July. The crew of the Coast Guard ship provided testimony to the Piraeus Naval Court. On 30 September, 119 days after the shipwreck, the phones of the 13 Coast Guardsmen that were present during the shipwreck were confiscated by order of the Piraeus Naval Court prosecutor as part of the ongoing investigation. Additionally, Pakistani authorities arrested 10 suspected traffickers.
Against the HCG
A lawsuit on behalf of 40 survivors was filed at the Naval Court of Pireaus in September 2023 alleging that Greek authorities failed to protect the lives of those onboard.
On 26 May 2025, 17 coastguards including the captain of the HCG vessel ΠΠΛΣ-920 were charged with various offences related to the sinking and deaths.
Investigations
On 16 June 2023 the IOM and UNHCR
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a United Nations agency mandated to aid and Humanitarian protection, protect refugees, Internally displaced person, forcibly displaced communities, and Statelessness, s ...
, the UN Refugee Agency
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a United Nations agency mandated to aid and protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people, and to assist in their voluntary repatriation, lo ...
, welcomed the investigation that was ordered in Greece and called for preventive action. On 3 August, Amnesty International
Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...
and Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Headquartered in New York City, the group investigates and reports on issues including War crime, war crimes, crim ...
stressed the "need for an effective, independent, and impartial investigation". In a 28 July 2023 letter addressed to Mitsotakis, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights
The Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights is an independent and impartial non-judicial institution established in 1999 by the Strasbourg-based Council of Europe, to promote awareness of and respect for human rights in the council's 46 ...
said that Greece has a "legal obligation to conduct effective investigations into the Pylos shipwreck", which includes fact-finding and the punishment of the persons responsible for hundreds of deaths. This also includes ensuring that the "remains of deceased migrants are located, respected, identified, and buried." Emily O'Reilly, who is the elected European Parliament's European Ombudsman told ''Euronews'' that she has demanded access to Frontex
The European Border and Coast Guard Agency, commonly known as Frontex (from French ''frontières extérieures'', "external borders"), is an agency of the European Union headquartered in Warsaw, Poland. In coordination with the border and coast gu ...
's formal report of the capsizing and sinking of the Adriana. Both Frontex and the HCG have been accused of not taking preventative steps to avoid the tragedy. On 14 December 2023, six months after the sinking, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch issued a joint statement saying that the "nature of ongoing judicial investigations in Greece raises concerns about the prospects for accountability for the shipwreck".
According to investigations completed by the BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
and News 24/7, contradicting the Greek coastguard's account of the incident, the boat had not moved for at least seven hours before sinking. A ''New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' investigation found that the authorities watched and listened for 13 hours as the boat lost power and drifted aimlessly. An investigation by the ''Washington Post'' retraced the ''Adriana'''s route on the Mediterranean Sea and reported that decisions taken by the HCG had contributed to the tragedy.
A joint investigative team of researchers and journalists, including Solomon, the Forensis research groupa sister organisation of Forensic Architecture
Forensic Architecture is a multidisciplinary research group based at Goldsmiths, University of London that uses architectural techniques and technologies to investigate cases of state violence and violations of human rights around the world. The ...
''The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'', ''Der Spiegel
(, , stylized in all caps) is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. With a weekly circulation of about 724,000 copies in 2022, it is one of the largest such publications in Europe. It was founded in 1947 by John Seymour Chaloner ...
'', and the German national broadcaster, ARD examined court documents, sources from the coastguards, as well as survivors' interviews and found evidence contradicting the HCG's original reports. Other sources for their investigative reporting included "distress signals, videos and photographs by the HCG, Frontex, and nearby commercial vessels as well as logs and testimonies." They said that the Greek coastguard is responsible for the sinking. The joint investigation by Solomon, Forensis, the StrgF/ARD, and The Guardian won the European Parliaments 2023 Daphne Caruana Galizia
Daphne Anne Caruana Galizia (; 26 August 1964 – 16 October 2017) was a Maltese writer, journalist, blogger and anti-corruption activist, who reported on political events in Malta. She was known internationally for her investigation of the Pa ...
Prize for investigating the Adriana shipwreck.
An investigation by the BBC alleged that the coastguard pressured the survivors of the wreck to frame the Egyptians as the smugglers. This was corroborated by a joint investigation by Lighthouse Reports and other news organisations based on testimonies from 17 survivors and sources from Frontex. A joint investigation by Lighthouse Reports, ''Der Spiegel
(, , stylized in all caps) is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. With a weekly circulation of about 724,000 copies in 2022, it is one of the largest such publications in Europe. It was founded in 1947 by John Seymour Chaloner ...
'', SIRAJ, ''El País
(; ) is a Spanish-language daily newspaper in Spain. is based in the capital city of Madrid and it is owned by the Spanish media conglomerate PRISA.
It is the second-most circulated daily newspaper in Spain . is the most read newspaper in ...
'' and Reporters United has revealed that a Libyan network with ties to Khalifa Haftar
Khalifa Haftar (; born 7 November 1943) is a Libyan-American politician, military officer, and the commander of the Tobruk-based Libyan National Army (LNA). In 2015, he was appointed commander of the armed forces loyal to the 2014 Libyan parliam ...
, was responsible for the smuggling.
Reactions
* António Guterres
António Manuel de Oliveira Guterres (born 30 April 1949) is a Portuguese politician and diplomat who is serving as the ninth and current secretary-general of the United Nations since 2017. A member of the Socialist Party (Portugal), ...
, UN Secretary General
The secretary-general of the United Nations (UNSG or UNSECGEN) is the chief administrative officer of the United Nations and head of the United Nations Secretariat, one of the United Nations System#Six principal organs, six principal organs of ...
, stated on 14 June 2023, that “this is yet another example of the need for Member States to come together and create orderly safe pathways for people forced to flee and for comprehensive action to save lives at sea and reduce perilous journeys.”
* UN Committee on Migrant Workers (CMW), released a statement on 21 June 2023, calling on the European Union, the African Union and the League of Arab States to work together to establish safe and regular migration routes after at least 81 migrants drowned and hundreds more went missing in one of Europe’s deadliest shipwreck.
* Dunja Mijatović
Dunja Mijatović ( sr-cyr, Дуња Мијатовић; is a Bosnian human rights expert and activist.
An expert on media law and media regulation, she served from 2010 to 2017 as the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media (RFoM), and as ...
, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, sent a letter on 19th of July 2023 to the Prime Minister of Greece, Kyriakos Mitsotakis stressing that Greece has a legal obligation to conduct effective investigations into the Pylos shipwreck, which resulted in the death of more than 80 persons with many hundreds still missing, to establish the facts and, where appropriate, to lead to the punishment of those responsible. The Commissioner expresses concern about reports of pressure having been exercised on survivors and about allegations of irregularities in the collection of evidence and testimonies, which may have led to a minimisation of the focus on certain actors in this tragedy, including the Greek Coast Guard.
See also
* 2013 Lampedusa migrant shipwreck
On 3 October 2013, a boat carrying migrants from Libya to Italy sank off the Italian island of Lampedusa. It was reported that the boat had sailed from Misrata, Libya, but that many of the migrants were originally from Eritrea, Somalia and Ghan ...
* 2014 Malta migrant shipwreck
* 2023 Calabria migrant boat disaster
* List of maritime disasters in the 21st century
A maritime disaster is an accident involving vessels at sea which causes significant damage, injury or loss of life. This list covers notable maritime disasters of the 21st century.
Peacetime disasters
All ships are vulnerable to problems from ...
* List of migrant vessel incidents on the Mediterranean Sea
* List of shipwrecks in 2023
Note
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Messenia migrant boat disaster, 2023
2023 disasters in Greece
2023 in international relations
June 2023 in Greece
Maritime incidents in 2023
Maritime incidents in Greece
Migrant boat disasters in the Mediterranean Sea
History of Pylos
Peloponnese (region)
Ionian Sea