Day: January 23, 2014

Two dead, 10 missing during alleged push-back operation off Greek island

A top European human rights official has criticised Greece following a deadly boat accident.

A fishing boat crammed with migrants capsized near Farmakonisi, a tiny Greek island in the Aegean Sea near Turkey.

The boat was being towed by a coast guard vessel. The bodies of a woman and an 11-year-old boy were found. A further 10 people were missing, among them infants and children.

The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) issued a statement saying it is “dismayed” to have learned of the tragedy.

The survivors, now on the island of Leros, told UNHCR they were being towed in the direction of Turkey at the time of the accident.

The European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE) has reported that refugees attempting to cross the EU’s external borders with Turkey are systematically pushed back from Greek territorial waters, the Greek islands and from the land border.

Another NGO, Pro Asyl, issued a report last November specifically outlining violations that had occurred in the proximity of Farmakonisi.

“It is highly likely that this action by the Greek coast guard was an illegal push-back operation rather than a rescue at sea,” said Karl Kopp, Director of European Affairs with Pro Asyl.

The UN has called for an inquiry. “UNHCR is urging the authorities to investigate this incident and how lives were lost on a boat that was under tow,” said Laurens Jolles, UNHCR’s Southern Europe Regional Representative.

“In addition survivors need to be quickly moved to the mainland so that their needs can be better looked after,” Jolles added.

The incident is the first of its kind in 2014, and the latest in a string of recent boat disasters in the Mediterranean involving people fleeing by sea towards Europe.

More than 360 people died on October 3, 2013 in a capsizing off of Italy’s Lampedusa. Several other deadly incidents were reported over the following weeks.

Greece has become a main point of entry for unauthorised migrants heading toward Europe.

Copyright © 2014 euronews

Inquiry calls after migrants die under tow in Greece

Source: bbc.co.uk

A Greek coast guard vessel (file image)

The Greek coastguard said it had tried to save the migrants

The UN has called for an inquiry after a boat carrying migrants capsized while being towed by a Greek coastguard vessel, leaving up to twelve dead.

Two bodies were found but a further 10 people were missing after the incident near the island of Farmakonisi on Monday. Sixteen people were rescued.

The coastguard says it judged it safer to keep migrants on their own boat than to take them aboard in bad weather.

Greek officials say panicking migrants caused the boat to capsize themselves.

According to reports, two migrants fell or dived overboard and others rushed to one side of the boat to rescue them, causing the boat to tip.

The deaths of a woman and a child have been confirmed.

One non-government organisation, Pro Asyl, accused the Greek authorities of trying illegally to prevent the migrants, believed to be 26 Afghans and two Syrians, landing in Greece.

“It is highly likely that this action by the Greek coastguard was an illegal push-back operation rather than a rescue at sea,” said Karl Kopp, the NGO’s director of European affairs.

Another NGO, Ecre, said: “Survivors tell that they were crying out for help, given that a large number of children and babies were on board.”

Greece is one of the main destinations for clandestine migrants and refugees seeking to enter the EU, through its land or sea borders.

Correspondents say there has been a sharp increase in sea-borne refugee traffic over the past year because of stricter controls on the Greek-Turkish land border to the north and the ongoing war in Syria.

‘More bodies’

In a statement on Tuesday, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said it was “dismayed” at the events off Farmakonisi.

It quoted survivors on the island of Leros as saying the Greek coastguard had tried to tow the boat towards the Turkish coast at high speed when it capsized.

“UNHCR is urging the authorities to investigate this incident and how lives were lost on a boat that was under tow,” said Laurens Jolles, its southern Europe regional representative.

“In addition survivors need to be quickly moved to the mainland so that their needs can be better looked after.”

Responding to the UN on Wednesday, the Greek coastguard insisted it had been trying to tow the boat, which had broken down, to Farmakonisi – and not to Turkey – after receiving a distress signal.

It put out a fire on the stricken boat and rescued 16 people from the water, it said.

Following the disaster, a Greek helicopter searched the area, which is near the Turkish coast, for survivors.

According to a report in Greek newspaper Kathimerini, two more bodies have been found by the Turkish authorities – those of an 11-year-old child and a 38-year-old woman.

There have been persistent reports of Greek officials forcing migrants back into Turkish waters.

Pro Asyl and Ecre called for an “independent and effective investigation of the circumstances that caused such loss of life”.

“The NGOs reiterate that push-backs are illegal, endanger people’s lives and have to end immediately,” they said in a press release.