Greek Coast Guard Defends Actions As Up To 500 Migrants Feared Dead In Shipwreck

Greece’s Athens Greek — As criticism grew Friday over the European Union’s protracted inability to develop a comprehensive immigration and asylum strategy, Greece’s coast guard defended its reacting to a ship carrying hundreds of migrants that ultimately sank off the country’s south coast.

Patrol boats and a helicopter combed the Mediterranean Sea region where the crowded fishing trawler capsized and sank early on Wednesday for a third day. According to the International Organisation for Migration, the trawler sailing from Libya to Italy may have carried as many as 500 individuals.

The U.N. migration agency’s Missing Migrants Project tweeted about a ship that collapsed off the coast of Libya, killing an estimated 800 migrants. “This could be the second deadliest shipwreck we have ever recorded after the tragic shipwreck of April, 2015 on route to Italy,” it said.

According to the Greek coast guard, the search and rescue effort would last longer than the typical 72 hours. Rescuers plucked 104 survivors from the sea and later found 78 bodies, but since late Wednesday, they haven’t found any more.

The magnitude of the catastrophe increased pressure on the European Union and the Greek government.

According to the Greek coast guard, the search and rescue effort would last longer than the typical 72 hours.

In a joint statement, the United Nations‘ migration and refugee agencies referred to timely marine search and rescue operations as “a legal and humanitarian imperative” and urged “urgent and decisive action to prevent further deaths at sea.”

Adriana Tidona of Amnesty International said, “the Greek government had specific responsibilities towards every passenger on the vessel, which was clearly in distress.” “This is a tragedy of unfathomable proportions, made all the more tragic by the fact that it was completely avoidable.”

Pope Francis, who was allowed to leave a hospital in Rome nine days after undergoing abdominal surgery on Friday, encouraged European nations to take more steps to safeguard those who put their lives in danger in search of better opportunities.

According to Francis’ Twitter account tweet, “I feel great pain at the death of the migrants, including many children, in the shipwreck.” “We must take all reasonable steps to ensure that refugees from war and poverty do not perish while looking for a future filled with hope.”

The criticism from U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was sharper.

To be clear. It’s not a Greek issue. Europe has an issue with this. During a news conference at U.N. headquarters in New York late on Thursday, Guterres said, “I think it’s time for Europe to be able to define an effective migration policy for these kinds of situations to not happen again.”

The Greek coast guard said the search and rescue effort would last longer than 72 hours.

The executive commission of the E.U. claims that a deal on how member nations can share responsibility for looking after migrants and refugees who make the dangerous trek across the Mediterranean is close to being reached by the 27-nation bloc.

Greece and other southern E.U. countries have intensified border control measures recently, extending barriers and stepping up naval patrols. These countries often serve as the first destinations for asylum seekers sailing to Europe.

Nikos Alexiou, a spokesman for the Coast Guard, claimed that before the ship sank, coast guard and private vessels tracked it in international waters. He claimed that calls made over a loudspeaker and via radio exchanges with the ship were ignored after being repeatedly offered assistance.

Despite reports of survivors, Alexiou insisted that a patrol boat had attempted to tow the fishing boat.

The causes of the sinking are the subject of a legal inquiry. Greek authorities claim the boat rolled over and listed minutes after losing power, and they speculate that passenger panic may have contributed to this.

The rescue effort sparked political dissent in Greece, which will have national elections on June 25. Athens’ large protests became violent late Thursday, resulting in 21 arrests.

The Greek coast guard said the search and rescue effort would last longer than 72 hours.

The coast guard should have hauled the ship to safety when it reached Greek waters, according to left-wing opposition leader Alexis Tsipras, who met survivors. Human rights organizations shared this worry.

Most survivors were being relocated to migrant shelters close to Athens on Friday from a storage hangar at the southern port of Kalamata, where relatives had assembled to search for lost family members.

On Friday, nine men from Egypt, all between the ages of 20 and 40, were caught, arrested, and accused of taking part in a criminal operation and smuggling people. According to health experts, twenty-seven survivors are still in the hospital.

On Monday, the smuggling suspects are scheduled to appear in court.

According to Alexiou, who cited eyewitness testimonies, the fishing boat’s hold contained women and children, but the number of the missing, thought to number in the hundreds, is still unknown.

According to the International Organisation for Migration, the boat may have held up to 750 passengers.

To begin the identification procedure, officials at a state-run mortuary outside of Athens took photographs of the victims’ faces and collected DNA samples.

SOURCE – (AP)