Greek coast guard faces charges in deadly migrant shipwreck

The Greek Maritime Court has charged 17 Greek Coast Guard (HCG) personnel following one of the deadliest mass migrant shipwrecks in the Mediterranean Sea.

The deputy prosecutor of the Piraeus Maritime Court stated that HCG personnel must face criminal charges related to hundreds of preventable deaths on the Adriana on June 14, 2023.

The vessel, traveling from a Libyan port to Italy and estimated to carry 750 passengers, capsized off the coast of Pylos, resulting in the drowning of 600 people, including women and children trapped below deck. It is reported that only 104 survived.

A Greek Coast Guard vessel, instead of conducting a rescue mission and safely bringing survivors to shore, monitored the Adriana for 15 hours before it sank.

Evidence uncovered by international media, the Forensis investigative agency, and the Greek organization Solomon shows that the Adriana was towed by the Greek Coast Guard toward Italian waters, leading to its capsizing. This corroborates survivors’ accounts.

The Piraeus Maritime Court ruled that 17 Greek Coast Guard members must face criminal charges. The ruling states that the actions of the Coast Guard vessel’s commander (accused of causing the sinking) led to the deaths of at least 82 people. This commander is also charged with dangerous interference in maritime transport and failing to assist the distressed vessel.

Four officials, including the then-head of the Coast Guard and the supervisor of Greece’s National Search and Rescue Coordination Center in Piraeus, are accused of endangering others. The remaining crew members are charged with simple complicity in all crimes allegedly committed by the aforementioned commander.

The indictment lists 82 deaths, as this was the number of bodies recovered from the water. However, the United Nations and Greek authorities have acknowledged that over 500 others drowned. While the Adriana sank in international waters, it was within Greece’s rescue zone.