Migrant disaster: ‘Greece did nothing to save’
While claims that the Greek coast guard was negligent in the migrant boat disaster off the coast of Greece are being voiced more and more by the day, it was said that “the disaster could have been avoided” because it was determined that the overloaded ship it was in danger hours before it sank.
It has been reported that a group of about 70 lawyers will be formed to investigate the causes of the accident at the request of the Athens Bar Association. In the pronouncement of the Bar Association, it was emphasized that those responsible must be punished with an exhaustive investigation of the conditions of the shipwreck and the clarification of the truth.
“We express our belief that the disaster could have been avoided because the overloaded vessel was detected in time, but no rescue measures were taken by Coast Guard officers and the border protection agency Frontex, which supervised the incident,” says the release. Calling on all the country’s bar associations to begin working to clarify the causes of the accident, the members of the group stated that they were open to cooperating with anyone who took action individually and collectively.
‘NEGLIGENCE OF THE SECURITY OF THE GREEK COAST’
In Greek media news, it was claimed that a migrant who survived the disaster, in his statement to the prosecutor, said that the ship sank when Greek Coast Guard crews began towing with ropes.
In the statement of another immigrant, it was claimed that the Greek Coast Guard boat tied a rope to the boat and while towing it, the boat began to sway from side to side due to excessive speed and capsized.
The newspaper Efimerida Ton Sintakton published in Greece affirmed that the ship was withdrawn from the place by the coast guard teams in the news that included the statements of the captain of the tanker called “Guerrero Fiel”, which passed from the place where the disaster occurred. .
In the news story, which claimed that the Greek Search and Rescue Center was aware of the overloaded boat shaking dangerously, it was claimed that questions needed to be answered as to why coastguard teams chose to remove the tanker rather than call it to the scene for a possible rescue operation.
ALLEGED ‘GREECE PUSHED THE SHIP’
The leader of the main opposition SYRIZA, Alexis Tsipras, visited the port of Kalamata, where migrants who survived the disaster were taken, to obtain information about the incident, saying the migrants told him that Greek coast guard teams were trying to push the boat into Italian waters.
On June 14, a fishing boat carrying irregular migrants capsized in international waters 47 nautical miles from Navarino, located in the Peloponnese in Greece, 82 people died, 104 people were rescued and brought to the port of Kalamata. According to Alarm Phone, a nonprofit organization, there were around 700 people on board. (AA)