A naval court in Greece has charged 17 coastguards over the deadliest migrant boat disaster in the Mediterranean Sea for a decade. The Adriana fishing vessel sank near Pylos, off the Greek coast, on June 14, 2023, resulting in the deaths of up to 650 people.
The charges come two years after the incident, with survivors accusing Greek coastguards of causing the boat to capsize in a botched attempt to tow it and then silencing witnesses. “It has taken us two years just for these charges to come, even though so many people witnessed what happened,” one survivor said.
The captain of the coastguard ship, LS-920, has been charged with “causing a shipwreck,” “dangerous interference of maritime transport,” and “failure to provide assistance” to the migrant boat, leading to the deaths of at least 82 people. The crew members have been charged with “simple complicity” in the acts allegedly committed by the captain. Four officials, including the then-Chief of the Coast Guard and the Supervisor of the National Search and Rescue Coordination Centre in Piraeus, have been charged with “exposing others to danger”.
Survivors, including Syrian refugees Ahmad and Musaab, claim the Greek coastguards caused the disaster. Musaab described the moment the coastguards allegedly attached a rope to the boat, causing it to flip: “They attached a rope from the left… Everyone moved to the right side of our boat to balance it. The Greek vessel moved off quickly causing our boat to flip. They kept dragging it for quite a distance.”
Ahmad expressed vindication over the charges but remains skeptical about the Greek legal system: “I’m very happy they are eventually being held accountable for all that they have committed, but until I see them in prison, nothing has been done yet… To be honest, the Greek legal system is very unreliable.”
The joint legal team representing survivors and victims welcomed the charges, stating: “Almost two years after the Pylos shipwreck, the prosecution and referral to main investigation for felonies of 17 members of the Coast Guard… constitutes a substantial and self-evident development in the course of vindication of the victims and the delivery of justice.” The 17 charged coastguards will be questioned by the Deputy Prosecutor of the Piraeus Naval Court, who will decide whether to send them to full trial or dismiss the charges.