On 14 June 2023, 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 north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on th ...
known as the
Ionian Sea
The Ionian Sea ( el, Ιόνιο Πέλαγος, ''Iónio Pélagos'' ; it, Mar Ionio ; al, Deti Jon ) 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 ...
, off the coast of
Pylos,
Messenia
Messenia or Messinia ( ; el, Μεσσηνία ) 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 ...
, Greece.
The boat, named ''Adriana'', which 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 or Tobruck (; grc, Ἀντίπυργος, ''Antipyrgos''; la, Antipyrgus; it, Tobruch; ar, طبرق, Tubruq ''Ṭubruq''; also transliterated as ''Tobruch'' and ''Tubruk'') is a port city on Libya's eastern Mediterranean coast, near t ...
, Libya, on 10 June, concerns were raised by 13 June, with the vessel then located in the
Maritime Search and Rescue (SAR) zone assigned to Greece.
The
Hellenic Coast Guard
The Hellenic Coast Guard ( el, Λιμενικό Σώμα-Ελληνική Ακτοφυλακή, Limeniko Soma-Elliniki Aktofylaki, Port Corps-Hellenic Coast Guard) is the national coast guard of Greece. Like many other coast guards, it is a pa ...
(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 remained there as an observer until the boat capsized and sank.
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 #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
, the ''New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', ''The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper
A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background.
Newspapers can cover a wide ...
'', German public broadcaster ARD/NDR
NDR may refer to:
Computing
* Non delivery report, a return email message to a sender indicating failed message delivery
* Network Data Representation, an implementation of the OSI model presentation layer
Science and technology
* Negative differ ...
/ Funk and Greek investigative outlet Solomon, 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 political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been ...
(EU) border protection agency, Frontex
The European Border and Coast Guard Agency, also known as Frontex (from French: ''Frontières extérieures'' for "external borders"), is an agency of the European Union headquartered in Warsaw, Poland, exercising in coordination with the border ...
, and the HCG did not take preventative steps to avoid the shipwreck. By a year after the disaster, both Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human ...
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 north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on th ...
into Europe. According to a February 2023 International Organization for Migration
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is a United Nations agency that provides services and advice concerning migration to governments and migrants, including internally displaced persons, refugees, and migrant workers.
The IOM w ...
(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 b ...
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 stat ...
vessels, often in locked holds
A hold (abbreviated HLD, H or HD) is awarded to a relief pitcher who meets the following three conditions:
:1. Enters the game in a save situation; that is, when all of the following three conditions apply:
:: (a) He appears in relief (i.e., i ...
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 countries and territories vary depending on context.
The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to 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
MENA, an acronym in the English language, refers to a grouping of countries situated in and around the Middle East and North Africa. It is also known as WANA, SWANA, or NAWA, which alternatively refers to the Middle East as Western Asia (or a ...
, 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 ( , ; ), also spelled Izmir, is a metropolitan city in the western extremity of Anatolia, capital of the province of the same name. It is the third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara and the second largest urban aggl ...
, Turkey, sank off Cutro Cutro ( Calabrian: ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Crotone, Calabria region, Italy. It's called "City of chess". It is the place of birth of Vincenzo Iaquinta, World Cup-winning footballer who played for Serie A club Juventus.
Histo ...
in Southern Italy
Southern Italy ( it, Sud Italia or ) also known as ''Meridione'' or ''Mezzogiorno'' (), is a macroregion of the Italian Republic consisting of its southern half.
The term ''Mezzogiorno'' today refers to regions that are associated with the peop ...
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 ( el, Κυριάκος Μητσοτάκης, ; born 4 March 1968) is a Greek politician serving as the prime minister of Greece since 8 July 2019. A member of the New Democracy, he has been its president since 2016. He prev ...
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
In aviation, pushback is an airport procedure during which an aircraft is pushed backwards away from its parking position, usually at an airport gate by external power. Pushbacks are carried out by special, low-profile vehicles called ''pushback ...
" 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 (DW), pushbacks had "become so so systematic, they are de facto policy." In 2021, Amnesty International 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 Greek 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.
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
''Kathimerini'' (Greek: Η Καθημερινή, pronounced kaθimeriˈni meaning ''The Daily'') is a daily, political and financial morning newspaper published in Athens. Its first edition was printed on September 15, 1919. and it is considered ...
'', 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 or Tobruck (; grc, Ἀντίπυργος, ''Antipyrgos''; la, Antipyrgus; it, Tobruch; ar, طبرق, Tubruq ''Ṭubruq''; also transliterated as ''Tobruch'' and ''Tubruk'') is a port city on Libya's eastern Mediterranean coast, near t ...
, a city in Cyrenaica
Cyrenaica ( ) or Kyrenaika ( ar, برقة, Barqah, grc-koi, Κυρηναϊκή ��παρχίαKurēnaïkḗ parkhíā}, after the city of Cyrene), is the eastern region of Libya. Cyrenaica includes all of the eastern part of Libya between ...
, Libya, south of the Greek island of Crete
Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cypru ...
, 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 NewsHour'' is an American evening news broadcasting#television, television news program broadcast on over 350 PBS Network affiliate#Member stations, member stations. It airs seven nights a week, and is known for its in-depth coverage of i ...
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
Kalamáta ( el, Καλαμάτα ) is the second most populous city of the Peloponnese peninsula, after Patras, in southern Greece and the largest city of the homonymous administrative region. As the capital and chief port of the Messenia regi ...
, 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
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
alerted Greek authorities and the European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been ...
(EU) border protection agency, Frontex
The European Border and Coast Guard Agency, also known as Frontex (from French: ''Frontières extérieures'' for "external borders"), is an agency of the European Union headquartered in Warsaw, Poland, exercising in coordination with the border ...
, 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 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
Flagging may refer to:
*Running out of time on a chess clock
*Flagging (tape), a colored non-adhesive tape used in marking objects
* Flagging (shipping) of a merchant vessel under the laws of a flag state
*The activities of a flagger (disambiguat ...
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 used one rope to assess the situation but 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 ( el, Ιόνιο Πέλαγος, ''Iónio Pélagos'' ; it, Mar Ionio ; al, Deti Jon ) 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 ...
. Survivors of the shipwreck have stated that a HCG vessel caused the fishing boat to capsize by attempting to tow it. The ship sank around off the coast of Pylos, Messenia
Messenia or Messinia ( ; el, Μεσσηνία ) 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 ...
, in the Peloponnese
The Peloponnese (), Peloponnesus (; el, Πελοπόννησος, Pelopónnēsos,(), or Morea is a peninsula and geographic region in southern Greece. It is connected to the central part of the country by the Isthmus of Corinth land bridge whi ...
, 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 (Punjabi, ur, born 1 January 1955) is a Pakistani politician serving as the 39th Interior Minister of Pakistan. He has been a member of the National Assembly of Pakistan since August 2018. He is a senior member of PML-N an ...
, said that there were at least 350 Pakistani victims on the overloaded vessel. Of the thirty people from the small city of Kotli
Kotli ( ur}) is a city in Kotli District of Azad Kashmir in Pakistan. It lies on the Poonch River, and the river contains several notable waterfalls including the Lala Waterfall near the town of Kotli and the Gulpur Waterfalls at the village o ...
, only two survived. Pakistan's Federal Investigation Agency
The Federal Investigation Agency ( ur, ; 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 jurisdic ...
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). 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
Kalamáta ( el, Καλαμάτα ) is the second most populous city of the Peloponnese peninsula, after Patras, in southern Greece and the largest city of the homonymous administrative region. As the capital and chief port of the Messenia regi ...
. 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 ( el, Μαλακάσα) 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&nb ...
.
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, or superficial sympathy, is a false, insincere display of emotion such as a hypocrite crying fake tears of grief. The phrase derives from an ancient belief that crocodiles shed tears while consuming their prey, and as such is ...
! 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 ( el, Κομμουνιστικό Κόμμα Ελλάδας, ''Kommounistikó Kómma Elládas'', KKE) is a political party in Greece.
Founded in 1918 as the Socialist Labour Party of Greece and adopted its curre ...
, 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 (Greek: Εν Αθήναις Αρχαιολογική Εταιρεία) is an independent learned society. Also termed the Greek Archaeological Society, it was founded in 1837 by Konstantinos Bellios, just a fe ...
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 ( el, Ιωάννης Σαρμάς; 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.
...
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 Sakellaropoulou ( el, Κατερίνα Σακελλαροπούλου, Latn, el, Katerína Sakellaropoúlou, ; born 30 May 1956) is a Greek judge who has been the president of Greece since 13 March 2020. She was elected by the Hellenic ...
, 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 ( el, Μαλακάσα) 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&nb ...
, since Friday.
The opposition leader, Alexis Tsipras
Alexis Tsipras ( el, Αλέξης Τσίπρας, ; born 28 July 1974) is a Greek politician serving as Leader of the Official Opposition since 2019. He served as Prime Minister of Greece from 2015 to 2019.
Tsipras has led the Coalition of t ...
, 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 (; Albrecht, born 8 October 1958) is a German politician who has been serving as the president of the European Commission since 2019. She served in the German federal government between 2005 and 2019, holding su ...
, 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 (Urdu, Punjabi: , ; born 23 September 1951) is a Pakistani politician and businessman who is currently serving as the 23rd Prime Minister of Pakistan, in office since 11 April 2022. He is the current president o ...
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 appearance of indirect sunlight being scattered in Earth's atmosphere, when the centre of the Sun's disc has reached 18° below the observer's ho ...
'' 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 served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Obama was the first Af ...
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 Oceangate, Ocean Gate, or ''variation'', may refer to:
* Ocean Gate, New Jersey, USA
** Ocean Gate School District
*** Ocean Gate Elementary School, see Ocean Gate School District
* Oceangate Tower, Meridian Quay, Swansea, Wales, UK
* OceanGate, ...
''Titan'' submersible implosion, in which five tourists in the submersible
A submersible is a small watercraft designed to operate underwater. The term "submersible" is often used to differentiate from other underwater vessels known as submarines, in that a submarine is a fully self-sufficient craft, capable of in ...
died in their failed attempt to visit the wreckage of the ''Titanic
RMS ''Titanic'' was a British passenger liner, operated by the White Star Line, which sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on 15 April 1912 after striking an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, Unite ...
''. Survivors of the 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 the remains of the ''Titan'' submersible.
The ''New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'',[ '']Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large na ...
'', ''The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper
A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background.
Newspapers can cover a wide ...
'', ''The Conversation
''The Conversation'' is a 1974 American mystery thriller film written, produced, and directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Gene Hackman, John Cazale, Allen Garfield, Cindy Williams, Frederic Forrest, Harrison Ford, Teri Garr, and R ...
'', Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human ...
, Amnesty International, UNCHR
The United Nations Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) was a functional commission within the overall framework of the United Nations from 1946 until it was replaced by the United Nations Human Rights Council in 2006. It was a subsidiary body of t ...
Greece and Refugee Support Aegean (RSA) described the deadly Pylos shipwreck as preventable.
Judicial proceedings
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, ei ...
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 HCG 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 HCG 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. A lawsuit on behalf of 40 survivors has been filed at the Naval Court of Pireaus alleging that Greek authorities failed to protect the lives of those onboard.
Investigations
On 16 June 2023 the IOM and UNHCR
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, local integrati ...
, the UN Refugee Agency
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, local integration ...
, welcomed the investigation that was ordered in Greece and called for preventive action. On 3 August, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human ...
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 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 member states. Th ...
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, also known as Frontex (from French: ''Frontières extérieures'' for "external borders"), is an agency of the European Union headquartered in Warsaw, Poland, exercising in coordination with the border ...
'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 #REDIRECT BBC
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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'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' 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
A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background.
Newspapers can cover a wide ...
'', '' Der Spiegel'', 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. In particular, she focused on investigative journalism, repor ...
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'', SIRAJ, ''El País
''El País'' (; ) is a Spanish-language daily newspaper in Spain. ''El País'' 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 . ''El ...
'' and Reporters United has revealed that a Libyan network with ties to Khalifa Haftar
Field Marshal Khalifa Belqasim Haftar ( ar, خليفة بلقاسم حفتر, Ḵalīfa Bilqāsim Ḥaftar; born 7 November 1943) is a Libyan-American politician, military officer, and the commander of the Tobruk-based Libyan National Army (LNA) ...
, was responsible for the smuggling.
Reactions
* António Guterres
António Manuel de Oliveira Guterres ( , ; born 30 April 1949) is a Portuguese politician and diplomat. Since 2017, he has served as secretary-general of the United Nations, the ninth person to hold this title. A member of the Portuguese Socia ...
, UN Secretary General
The secretary-general of the United Nations (UNSG or SG) is the chief administrative officer of the United Nations and head of the United Nations Secretariat, one of the six principal organs of the United Nations.
The role of the secretary-ge ...
, 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; born 8 September 1964) is a Bosnian human rights expert and activist, serving as the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights. She was elected by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Cou ...
, 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 Ghana. ...
* 2014 Malta migrant shipwreck
In September 2014, it was announced by the International Organization for Migration that a ship sank off the Malta coast on September 11, 2014, killing around 500 migrants. There were eleven survivors. The ship left Damietta, Egypt, on September 6 ...
* 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. Maritime means ship.
Peacetime disasters
All ships are vulne ...
* List of migrant vessel incidents on the Mediterranean Sea
This article is a list of migrant vessel incidents on the Mediterranean Sea. The incidents have been referred to as part of the European migrant crisis.
Prior to 2015
2015
2015 summary
The number of reported deaths of migrants cro ...
* List of shipwrecks in 2023
The list of shipwrecks in 2023 includes ships sunk, foundered, grounded, or otherwise lost during 2023.
January 3 January
4 January
7 January
10 January
15 January
16 January
18 January
19 January
20 January
2 ...
Note
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Messenia migrant boat disaster, 2023
2023 disasters in Greece
2023 in international relations
June 2023 events in Greece
Maritime incidents in 2023
Maritime incidents in Greece
Migrant boat disasters in the Mediterranean Sea
History of Pylos
Peloponnese (region)
Ionian Sea