Seventeen members of Greece’s coastguard have been charged in connection with the nation’s worst migrant shipwreck, which resulted in hundreds of fatalities, according to rights organizations representing survivors and victims, as reported on Friday.
Survivors claimed that the coastguard’s response was inadequate when the rusty and overcrowded trawler Adriana sank on the night of June 13, 2023, near Pylos, southern Greece, while heading to Italy.
The United Nations reported that the vessel had over 750 passengers aboard, yet only 82 bodies were recovered.
Attorneys representing the rights groups announced that criminal charges have been filed against 17 officers.
Six rights organizations issued a statement declaring that the decision to prosecute is “a significant and obvious step toward justice and accountability for the victims.”
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Among the 104 survivors, many have submitted a collective criminal complaint, claiming that the coastguard took hours to mount a response when the boat encountered distress, despite alerts from EU border agency Frontex and the NGO Alarm Phone.
The prosecution also includes the then-chief of the coastguard, the head of the Greek National Search and Rescue Coordination Centre, and two navigation safety officers on duty that day, according to the lawyers.
The boat was traveling from Tobruk, Libya, to Italy. Reports indicate that among the passengers were Syrians, Palestinians, and nearly 350 Pakistanis, per the Pakistani government.
Survivors testified that the coastguard eventually intervened and was in the process of towing the vessel when it capsized and sank 47 nautical miles off the Pylos coast.
The coastguard claimed that they communicated with individuals on board who “refused any help,” making any rescue operation in rough seas hazardous.
However, attorneys for the survivors argued that the coastguard opted to send only a patrol boat from Crete instead of a larger rescue tugboat that was positioned closer at the port of Gytheion in the Peloponnese.
They also reported that the patrol boat’s voyage data recorder was damaged and wasn’t repaired until two months after the incident, and there was no video footage from the patrol boat available.
