Greek coastguards prosecuted for migrant tragedy: rights groups

ATHENS: Seventeen members of Greece´s coastguard have been prosecuted over the country´s deadliest migrant shipwreck which claimed hundreds of lives, rights groups representing the survivors and victims said on Friday.

Survivors said the coastguard failed to respond adequately when the rusty and overloaded trawler Adriana sank on the night of June 13, 2023 off Pylos, southern Greece, en route to Italy.

It was carrying more than 750 people, according to the United Nations, but only 82 bodies were found. Lawyers for the rights groups on Friday said criminal prosecutions had been initiated for 17 officers.

They included the captain of the coastguard rescue vessel dispatched to the area of the wreck that night, who is charged with failure to provide assistance. He and several other officials stand charged with exposing others to danger.

Six rights groups in a statement called the decision to prosecute “a significant and obvious development in the path towards justice and accountability for the victims”. Among the 104 survivors, dozens have filed a group criminal complaint, alleging the coastguard took hours to mount a response when the boat was in trouble, despite warnings from EU border agency Frontex and the NGO Alarm Phone.

The prosecution also targets the then chief of the coastguard, the supervisor of the Greek national search and rescue coordination centre, and two navigation safety officers on duty that day, the lawyers said.