• 

New tracking data reveals that the fishing boat that sank off the Greek coast did not move for several hours before capsizing, which proves contradictory to accounts and claims from the Hellenic coastguard.

An analysis by The Guardian of ship movements provided by the MariTrace service showed that two vessels – the Lucky Sailor and the Faithful Warrior – circled around the boat for at least four hours.

The coastguard claimed to have been in contact with the boat from about 3 pm to 7 pm on Tuesday by radio, satphone, and helicopter and that the boat was moving “at a steady course and speed” toward Italy. The boat then began rocking and sank in international waters off the west coast of Greece after 2 am on Wednesday.

An initial police investigation in Pakistan, where some of those onboard were from, revealed that 750 to 800 people were on the boat, but other witness accounts say the number actually was between 400 and 750. So far, 78 bodies have been recovered. 

Read next: Greek MP kicked out of Mitsotakis' party over migrant boat comment

The UN’s human rights agency stated that up to 500 people are still missing, which makes this tragedy potentially the second deadliest migrant shipwreck after the capsizing of a migrant boat in April 2015  that killed up to 1,100 people on a Libya-Italy route. 

'BS' allegations

Greek authorities claim that the migrants repeatedly refused help and were not in danger, and added that the boat was moving more or less steadily until minutes before it sank. However, activists spoke out to say that the migrants were in danger and made calls for help over 15 hours before the boat sank.

Legal experts argue that regardless, the conditions of both the boat and passengers should have prompted an immediate rescue operation.

The Greek coastguard's spokesperson, Nikos Alexiou, denied making "any move" that may have endangered the migrants, calling the allegations "bull****" and "lies". “There was no push, tug, hug or whatever,” he claimed, apparently irritated by the charges. "We approached and tied up for five minutes to try to make contact and to talk to them."

The captain of a Greek coastguard vessel claimed that when a rope was tied to the boat after it stopped moving, some passengers said: “No help” and “Go Italy”, and continued to untie the rope and restart the engine, which stopped at 1:40 am. 

NEW: Tracking data of ships suggests the migrant boat that sank off Greece was hardly moving in the 7 hours before.

Totally contradicts Greek coastguard's claim it was on “steady course & speed” & so didn’t need rescue.@KallergisK's & my investigationhttps://t.co/wqfvR5WiKl

— Nick Beake (@Beaking_News) June 18, 2023

Survivors such as Ayad, 24, from Syria, told The Sunday Times that the boat sank 45 miles southwest of Greece's southern Peloponnese peninsula, but no one assisted them. His testimony was corroborated by four other survivors who recall that the Greek coastguard did not provide assistance for at least three hours after the boat capsized: From around midnight last Wednesday until the first rays of sunlight appeared, “They just watched,” Ayad stated. “They could have saved so many more.”

The Guardian analyzed a BBC report based on tracking data supplied by the maritime analytics platform, MarineTraffic, which demonstrated that the boat did not move for seven hours.

Nine survivors, all Egyptian men between the ages of 20 and 40 were accused of human trafficking and other offenses and pleaded not guilty in court on Monday.

The men face charges of participating in a criminal organization, causing a shipwreck, and endangering lives.