File photo.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Sunday pledged “full transparency” in the ongoing investigation into the death of 15 migrants during a collision between their inflatable boat and a Coast Guard vessel in the Aegean Sea.
Mitsotakis said in a social media post that “nobody can remain untouched by such a large loss of life.” But he defended the Coast Guard, which has been widely criticized for its handling of deadly migrant shipwrecks, saying its personnel “carry out their patriotic duty, guarding our sea borders and saving human lives.”
“The investigation into the precise circumstances of the tragic accident has started and will be conducted with full transparency,” he added.
It’s unclear exactly how Tuesday night’s fatal accident off the eastern Aegean island of Chios occurred. The Coast Guard said the migrant inflatable intentionally rammed its powerful patrol boat. Surviving migrants disputed that account.
In another controversial incident, in June 2023 more than 500 migrants are believed to have died when an overloaded trawler smuggling them from Libya to Italy sank off Pylos in southwestern Greece – despite having been monitored for hours by the Greek Coast Guard. After the ship sank, 104 people were pulled alive from the water, and 82 bodies were recovered. The Adriana trawler is believed to have been carrying up to 750 migrants, mostly squashed into the lower decks and hold.
Greece has steadily defended its handling of the disaster.