Editorials

The Irish Times view on the Greece migrant ship disaster: an investigation is needed

The UN says up to 500 are missing after a fishing board carrying hundreds of smuggled migrants sank in front of a Greek coastguard vessel last week

Survivors of a shipwreck stand outside a warehouse at the port in Kalamata town after a boat carrying dozens of migrants sank in international waters in the Ionian Sea. Greece declared three days of mourning. Photograph: Angelos Tzortzinis / AFP via Getty Images
Survivors of a shipwreck stand outside a warehouse at the port in Kalamata town after a boat carrying dozens of migrants sank in international waters in the Ionian Sea. Greece declared three days of mourning. Photograph: Angelos Tzortzinis / AFP via Getty Images
Wed Jun 21 2023 - 09:09

A 2014 European Union regulation spells out the legal obligation on EU-flagged ships to come to the aid those in distress at sea: “Every State must require the master of a vessel flying its flag … to render assistance without delay to any person found at sea in danger of being lost.”

That obligation, the regulation makes clear, is not conditional on those in peril having sent out an SOS or an appeal for help.

Since a rickety fishing boat carrying hundreds of smuggled migrants sank in front of a Greek coastguard vessel last week, the coastguard has given various excuses about why it failed to intervene in a tragedy that has taken at least 81 lives. The United Nations says up to 500 are still missing and Pakistan on Monday declared a day of mourning for the Pakistanis among the dead.

[ Sally Hayden: How has the mass drowning of people become normalised? ]

The coastguard first insisted those on board had rejected aid. It denied putting a line on board, then admitted it had, but denied attempting a tow. It also denied a BBC report that the ship had remained immobile, stranded, for seven hours, insisting it travelled a further 30 miles. The coastguard still claims that during these hours the boat was on a course to Italy, not in need of rescue.

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The service ordered ships that came to provide assistance not to discuss the matter with the press. One of their officers testifies that the coastguard was ordered by radio to leave the area of the stranded boat two hours before it capsized. Survivors describe a hapless captain, engine trouble and even suggest that the coastguard had accidentally caused the sinking.

Nine smugglers have been arrested and charged, but serious questions remain to be answered about inaction by the coastguard, which has already faced repeated accusations of engaging in illegal migrant pushbacks. A May New York Times video appeared to show coastguard vessels abandoning people at sea that had previously landed in Greece.

UN officials have called for an investigation. It is vital that happens.