Tragedy Strikes in the Mediterranean: Over 500 Refugees Missing
On June 13th, a fishing trawler carrying over 700 refugees capsized off the coast of Greece. The Hellenic Coastguard rescued 104 and collected 78 bodies from the Ionian Sea, but survivors spoke of as many as 500 still missing. The boat had left Tobruk and was headed for Italy, according to the coastguard. The incident is one of the worst losses of life recorded in the Mediterranean Sea.
The Aftermath
The first relatives of those on board began to trickle into the southern Greek town of Kalamata to find their loved ones. Kassem Abuzeed, a Syrian living in Hamburg, was looking for his wife, Ezra Aboud. He had tried and failed to bring her to Germany legally, and had paid smugglers $5,000 to transport her from the refugee camp in Jordan where she lived, across North Africa and the Mediterranean. The coastguard was deposing survivors and was not allowing them to talk to the media or relatives. All the survivors were male, aid workers told Al Jazeera, and many collapsed on the dock as soon as they arrived on Wednesday. Almost three dozen had been hospitalized with various ailments, including water in the lungs, but all would survive, doctors said.
Who is to Blame?
The Hellenic Coastguard has published a detailed timeline of the events surrounding the disaster. It claims Frontex, the European Border and coastguard, alerted it to the ship’s whereabouts on Tuesday morning, and it dispatched two helicopters, a high seas patrol vessel from the city of Chania and a Maltese-flagged rescue ship, all of which made visual contact with the trawler at various times. The Maltese ship did pull up alongside the trawler at 6pm (15:00 GMT) to deposit food and water. The coastguard spoke with an English speaker on the trawler via satellite phone at 6:30pm (15:30 GMT). “The satellite phone user … said the vessel was not in danger, they do not wish for assistance except food and water, and they wish to continue towards Italy,” said the coastguard. The coastguard’s high seas vessel came upon the trawler at 10:40pm (19:40 GMT), said the coastguard. “It remained at a distance and observed the trawler discreetly. It did not find any problem with the trawler’s sailing. It held a constant speed and direction.” At 2:04am (23:04 GMT), the coastguard captain informed the operations centre that “he saw the trawler lurch to starboard, then to port, then to starboard again so violently that it capsized”, the coastguard said. “Ten to 15 minutes later the trawler sank completely.”
A different version is challenged by Alarm Phone, an NGO that monitors refugee boats in the Mediterranean. It said it received a call from the trawler on Tuesday afternoon. The refugees said, “They cannot survive the night, that they are in heavy distress,” said Alarm Phone in a timeline of its own. Alarm Phone said the reason passengers on the trawler turned away Greece’s assistance is that “people on the move know that thousands have been shot at, beaten, and abandoned at sea by these Greek forces”. Greece’s left-wing opposition leader, Alexis Tsipras, was filmed talking to a refugee on Wednesday, in which the refugee told him that the Greek coastguard caused the capsizing by trying to tow the trawler. The Greek coastguard denies this.
Conclusion
The tragedy off Greece’s west coast highlights the ongoing refugee crisis in Europe and the dangers refugees face when attempting to cross the Mediterranean. The incident also raises questions about the role of the Hellenic Coastguard and the Greek government in handling refugee boats. As the search for survivors continues, it is important for authorities to investigate the incident thoroughly and take steps to prevent similar tragedies in the future.