BBC investigation ties Greek coast guard to dozens of migrant deaths at sea

A new BBC report and documentary leveled allegations against Greek authorities in the Mediterranean. The report, released on Monday, June 17, documented allegations ranging from masked men abducting and throwing migrants into the sea, to Greek authorities forcing asylum-seekers and their children into open waters on ill-fated rafts, according to first-hand witness accounts.

In total, the report outlined 43 deaths attributed to the Greek authorities. It accused Greek authorities of killing people through negligence and murder.

The documentary, named “Dead Calm: Killing in the Med?,” largely focuses on the migrant ship disaster off of the coast of Greece on June 18, 2023.

The film appears to allege negligence during rescue operations on the capsized ship with hundreds of migrants. More than 600 migrants drowned. First-hand accounts and court documents stated the vessel may have sunk after Greek special forces attempted to tow it outside of Greek waters.

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Some asylum-seekers hold the traffickers who organized the ill-fated trip responsible but maintain Greek involvement in capsizing the vessel and abandoning the migrants at sea. Greek authorities disputed the accounts but also said that cameras on their ship were not working during the operation.

The allegations appear to be symbolic of a larger issue within Greek authorities’ handling of migrants. Human rights groups have long accused Greece of forcing thousands of refugees out, despite asylum rights being written into international and European Union law.

In another incident outlined in the BBC report, a Syrian refugee said that people on his boat called for help from the Greek coast guard after it stalled. He said the coast guard put him and others on a raft with a leaking valve.

The raft eventually sank and killed eight children, including the refugee’s. He said they cried out for help from Greek authorities but were ignored. The ship carried 85 people and the Turkish coast guard did not come to the migrants’ rescue until the next morning.

In a separate event, a BBC reporter showed a former Greek coast guard senior officer a video of a dozen people, including small children, being loaded onto a boat and then forced onto a small raft, only to be abandoned at sea. The former officer’s reaction was denial, but as the camera rolled during a break, he called his supervisor. While speaking in Greek, he called the actions in the video “obviously illegal” and “an international crime,” even questioning why they would do it in “broad daylight.”

Greece’s main opposition party is demanding an investigation following the report. The party’s immigration policy chief said that they have called for accountability from the coast guard for years.

A government spokesperson for Greece called the BBC’s claims unproven but said that every complaint would be reviewed, adding that the coast guard “saves dozens of human lives every day,” and it is “wrong to target them.”