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2023 Messenia migrant boat disaster

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2023 Messenia migrant boat disaster
Image of the migrant boat taken shortly before capsizing
Date14 June 2023
Time2:04 AM (EEST)
Location50 mi (80 km) off the coast of Pylos, Greece
Casualties
104 rescued and transferred to Kalamata[1]
Deaths78[2]
Missing568[3][4]

On 14 June 2023, a fishing boat smuggling migrants sank in the Ionian Sea off the coast of Pylos, Messenia. The boat, which left Tobruk, Libya, on 10 June, carried an estimated 750 migrants.[5][6] The search and rescue effort by Greek authorities rescued 104 survivors including Egyptians, Syrians, Pakistanis, Afghans, and Palestinians,[1] and recovered 78 bodies, with hundreds more missing.

Background

Libya's ongoing crisis, alongside instability in neighboring countries, has allowed a large people-smuggling business to develop, making Libya a hub for moving migrants and refugees across the Mediterranean into Europe.[7]

The Northern Africa to Italy sea route for migrants and refugees seeking to get to Europe has been declared the deadliest on Earth by the International Organization for Migration, which has recorded 21,000 deaths since 2014.[7] Human smugglers crowd migrants into unseaworthy vessels, often in locked holds for days-long journeys. They head for Italy, across the sea from Libya, as it is closer to Western Europe than Greece.[7]

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, of whom 3,789 died on sea-based routes in and around the region.[8] On 26 February 2023, at least 94 people died when a wooden boat from İzmir, Turkey, sank off of Cutro in Southern Italy in the deadliest Mediterranean maritime incident of 2023 up to that point.[7]

Incident

Map of the eastern Mediterranean, showcasing the route taken by the Adrianna and where survivors were taken.[7]

The boat, named the Adrianna,[9] had departed from Tobruk, a town in Cyrenaica, Libya, south of the Greek island of Crete, on 10 June 2023.[9] The vessel carried an excessive number of people, well above its capacity;[10] according to Alarm Phone,[11] a European rescue-support charity who claimed to have received a distress call from the vessel, up to 750 people were aboard; it was not clear if that was the same boat that sunk.[7] The International Organization for Migration (IOM) estimated that around 400 were aboard. Ioannis Zafiropoulos, the deputy mayor of the Greek port city of Kalamata, stated that there were over 500.[12] The ship was a fishing boat,[13] and was estimated to be around 20 to 30 metres (66 to 98 ft) long.[14] The Andrianna was destined for Italy.[15]

On 13 June, the Italian coast guard alerted Greek authorities and the European Union (EU) border protection agency, Frontex, of an oncoming vessel in distress.[7][11] In particular, the Italians informed the Greeks of the peculiar movements of the vessel.[16] The Greek coast guard 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 Greek coast guard.[17]

In the afternoon, one of the merchant ships approached the Andrianna and offered it assistance; the passengers refused it. Another merchant ship later did the same and received the same response. A Greek coast guard patrol approached the deck of the vessel in the evening, where they confirmed the presence of a large number of migrants.[7] 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 merchant ship provided.[11] The Greek patrol later accompanied the vessel.[7]

At around 1:40 a.m. (EEST) on 14 June, the Greek coast guard learned that the Andrianna's engine had broken down.[7] After receiving a plea for aid, coast guard 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." Around 10 to 15 minutes later, the Andrianna sank, sending its passengers into the waves of the Ionian Sea.[16] The ship sank around 50 miles (80 km) off the coast of Pylos, Messenia, in the Peloponnese,[10] in an area around 13,000 to 17,000 feet (4,000 to 5,200 m) deep.[15][16] The Greek coast guard reported that no one on board was wearing a life jacket.[10]

Search and rescue

Immediately following the sinking, the Greek coast guard and the military initiated a massive search and rescue operation.[16] The operation was complicated by strong winds in the area.[10] Survivors were transferred to Kalamata.[17] After rescuing 104 survivors, the Greek authorities stated that they expected to find no more, leaving hundreds still missing.[1][10] The survivors, the majority of whom are men,[13] have reported that the smugglers kept the women and children locked in the hold.[13] Based on survivor accounts, it is believed that up to 100 children were being held at the time of the sinking.[3]

At least 78 passengers of the Andrianna have been confirmed dead, making it the deadliest shipwreck of 2023 in Greece.[10] Greek police said they were working on the assumption that as many as 500 people were missing.[3] By the evening of 16 June, the Greek authorities had arrested nine suspects believed to have been responsible for the people-smuggling operation. The men, all of Egyptian descent, are due to appear before a local magistrate, with the public prosecutor likely to press charges, including mass murder.[3]

Aftermath

Lanterns lit in memory of the victims during the protest in Athens

The Greek coast guard released aerial pictures showing the boat's overladen upper and lower decks hours before it sank.[18] 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.[3][18] Alarm Phone, a support network for rescue operations, was contacted by people onboard late on Tuesday. who were saying that the captain had abandoned the ship.[18] No one onboard is thought to have been wearing a life jacket.[3]

Opposition leader Alexis Tsipras 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".[3] The caretaker administration in Athens announced three days of national mourning,[18] and Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou visited some of the survivors and conveyed her condolences.[17]

Under the previous conservative government, Greek authorities took a hard stance on migration, raising border controls,[18] and often turning away boats laden with migrants and refugees.[19] Many left-wing organizations, trade unions, and parties, including the Communist Party of Greece and anti-racist collectives, called for protests on 15 June in solidarity with the refugees and against pushbacks and border fences intended to control migration.[20] That evening, thousands of protesters converged in Athens and Thessaloniki to demonstrate against EU migration policies. Some protestors in Athens threw petrol bombs at police and were teargassed.[21] Protesters in Kalamata demonstrated near the migrant facilities, with one banner reading: "Crocodile tears! No to the EU's pact on migration".[21]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c "Greece finds no more survivors of migrant boat disaster with hundreds missing". NBC News. Kalamata, Greece. Associated Press. 15 June 2023. Archived from the original on 15 June 2023. Retrieved 15 June 2023.
  2. ^ "Οργή και θλίψη, ενώ σβήνουν οι ελπίδες για άλλους επιζώντες" [Rage and grief, while hope fades for other survivors]. Efimerida ton Syntakton (in Greek). 15 June 2023. Retrieved 15 June 2023. Στο μεταξύ οι έρευνες που συνεχίστηκαν αδιάκοπα όλο το προηγούμενο 24ωρο ήταν άκαρπες και ο επίσημος απολογισμός παραμένει 78 νεκροί και 104 διασωθέντες. [In the meantime, the searches that continued uninterrupted throughout the previous 24 hours were fruitless and the official tally remains 78 dead and 104 rescued.]
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Smith, Helena; Henley, Jon (15 June 2023). "Greece shipwreck: up to 100 children were below deck, survivors say". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 15 June 2023. Retrieved 16 June 2023.
  4. ^ "Στους 568 οι αγνοούμενοι στο ναυάγιο της Πύλου - Σβήνουν οι ελπίδες για επιζώντες". www.tovima.gr (in Greek). 15 June 2023.
  5. ^ "Ναυάγιο στην Πύλο: «Δεν έχουμε ξαναζήσει τέτοια τραγωδία στη χώρα μας» see" [Shipwreck in Pylos: "We have never experienced such a tragedy in our country"]. Kathimerini. Retrieved 15 June 2023.
  6. ^ Haq, Sana Noor; Labropoulou, Elinda (16 June 2023). "Relatives searching for loved ones after Greek migrant boat disaster, as hundreds more feared dead". CNN. Retrieved 17 June 2023.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Gatopoulos, Derek; Paphitis, Nicholas (14 June 2023). "At least 79 dead after overcrowded migrant vessel sinks off Greece; hundreds may be missing". AP News. Retrieved 17 June 2023.
  8. ^ "78 dead after boat with refugees and migrants sinks off Greece". Al Jazeera. 14 June 2023. Retrieved 17 June 2023.
  9. ^ a b Brudeau, Cain (14 June 2023). "Dozens drown in latest European migrant boat disaster". Courthouse News Service. Retrieved 14 June 2023.
  10. ^ a b c d e f "Greece boat disaster leaves at least 78 dead and hundreds missing". BBC News. 15 June 2023. Archived from the original on 14 June 2023. Retrieved 17 June 2023.
  11. ^ a b c Sands, Leo; Parker, Claire (14 June 2023). "At least 79 dead, hundreds missing in year's deadliest wreck off Greece". The Washington Post. Retrieved 14 June 2023.
  12. ^ Smith, Helena (15 June 2023). "At least 79 people drown as refugee boat sinks off Greece". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 15 June 2023. Retrieved 17 June 2023.
  13. ^ a b c "Dozens of migrants dead, fears for hundreds missing in Greece shipwreck". France 24. Agence France-Presse. 14 June 2023. Retrieved 17 June 2023.
  14. ^ Tagaris, Karolina; Prousalis, Stamos (14 June 2023). "At least 79 drown, hundreds missing in migrant shipwreck off Greece". Reuters. Archived from the original on 14 June 2023. Retrieved 14 June 2023.
  15. ^ a b Liakos, Chris; Nicholls, Catherine; Labropoulou, Elinda (15 June 2023). "At least 78 people drown after migrant boat sinks off Greek coast". CNN. Archived from the original on 14 June 2023. Retrieved 17 June 2023.
  16. ^ a b c d Kitsantonis, Niki; Engelbrecht, Cora (14 June 2023). "At Least 79 Die as Boat Carrying Migrants Sinks Near Greece". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 14 June 2023. Retrieved 14 June 2023.
  17. ^ a b c "Greece migrants: Hundreds feared missing as boat sinks". BBC News. 14 June 2023. Archived from the original on 14 June 2023. Retrieved 14 June 2023.
  18. ^ a b c d e Smith, Helena; Henley, Jon (15 June 2023). "Greece refugee shipwreck: rescuers scour sea for survivors". The Guardian. Retrieved 15 June 2023.
  19. ^ Kingsley, Patrick; Shoumali, Karam (14 June 2023). "Taking Hard Line, Greece Turns Back Migrants by Abandoning Them at Sea". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 4 June 2023. Retrieved 17 June 2023.
  20. ^ "Ναυάγιο στην Πύλο: Διαδηλώσεις την Πέμπτη 15 Ιουνίου – «Δεν είναι ατύχημα, είναι έγκλημα – Καλοδεχούμενοι οι πρόσφυγες»" [Shipwreck in Pylos: Demonstrations on Thursday, June 15 – "It's not an accident, it's a crime – Refugees welcome"]. in.gr (in Greek). 14 June 2023. Retrieved 15 June 2023.
  21. ^ a b Smith, Helena; Henley, Jon (16 June 2023). "Greece shipwreck: hopes of finding survivors fade on final day of search". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 16 June 2023. Retrieved 17 June 2023.
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