Reading Between the Lines of the Pylos Shipwreck, Daily Brief August 3, 2023

Who do you believe?

On the one hand, you have the survivors of the greatest tragedy off the Greek coast in recent years.

On the other hand, there’s the Greek coast guard.

The two sides offer very different accounts of what happened on June 14, when the fishing vessel Adriana sank near Pylos, drowning most of the 750 people on board.

One critical issue involves a rope – or “line,” as sailors would say – between the overcrowded boat and the coast guard vessel dispatched to the scene.

Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch interviewed survivors, who consistently described how the coast guard ship attached a line to the Adriana and started towing it. This, survivors say, caused the Adriana to sway unusually and then capsize.

Greek authorities have strongly denied this. Senior officials of the Hellenic Coast Guard told us their vessel came close to the Adriana and used a line only to approach the boat. They claim they did this to assess whether migrant passengers wanted help, but that passengers threw the line back and the boat continued its journey.

The survivors say people on the Adriana were pleading to be rescued from the rickety fishing vessel – they’d even called for help by satellite phone hours earlier – but the Greek coast guard wouldn’t listen.

When accounts differ as dramatically as this, there clearly needs to be an independent, impartial investigation into what happened. Greek authorities have opened two criminal investigations, one targeted at the alleged smugglers and another into the actions of the coast guard.

Equally clearly, there will be questions about the credibility of Greece’s investigations.

This is especially true given the “Farmakonisi” shipwreck in 2014, in which survivors also argued their boat capsized when the Greek coast guard tried to tow them. The European Court of Human Rights in that case condemned the rescue operations and the subsequent investigation, including how victims’ testimonies were handled.

There are things authorities can do to help make today’s investigations more credible.

One would be to put investigations under the supervision of the Supreme Court Prosecutor’s Office. Another would be to ensure the Greek Ombudsman’s Office is able to fulfill its oversight role properly, with access to all necessary evidence.

And, of course, investigations should involve taking testimonies from all survivors, under conditions where they feel safe to talk openly.

Investigations seem to be proliferating now, too. In a separate, welcome development, the EU Ombudsman has announced it will open an inquiry into the actions of EU border agency Frontex in the Mediterranean, including in the Adriana shipwreck.

If there’s room for another investigation, I’d like to see one look into the EU’s illegal and morally bankrupt asylum and migration policies generally.

But for now, one final question about Pylos: where are the mobile phones? Survivors say the Greek coast guard took their phones from them (and perhaps from dead bodies, too) after they were pulled out of the water. Survivors told us they contain vital video evidence about the shipwreck and what led to it.

Accounts of what happened that terrible day vary widely, but if the Greek coast guard is so sure of its account, why won’t they give those phones back – or turn them in as evidence?

News this week suggests this is precisely where investigators are now focusing their interest.