In the early hours of the morning of 14 June 2023, the Adriana, a refugee boat carrying approximately 750 people, capsized and sank off the coast of Greece. Only 81 bodies have been found, but it is clear that hundreds more have drowned. The boat was overcrowded with Pakistani, Syrian, and Palestinian refugees and migrants; there were up to 100 children below decks. The boat was taking a route from Libya to Italy, one which has been declared the deadliest on Earth by the International Organisation for Migration. Since then, the Greek coastguard and government have tried to cover up for their role in the sinking of the ship and the hundreds of lives lost. It was mass murder.
On the morning of 13 June a plane from European Union’s border agency Frontex notified Italian and Greek officials after spotting the boat at an estimated 47 nautical miles from Pylos, Greece. The Greek authorities failed to respond three times to the notification and neither the Greek coastguard nor Frontex attempted any sort of intervention until 5.53pm when an urgent SOS was replayed to them by small boats emergency hotline Alarmphone.
A single Greek coastguard vessel approached the Adriana and but did nothing despite seeing that the boat was crammed and that no one had a life jacket on. At around 1.40am on 14 June, the coastguard finally intervened after learning that the Adriana’s engine had broken down.There were then attempts to tow the vessel which caused the boat to capsize and sink, sending its passengers into the Ionian Sea. According to survivors, the coastguard was attempting to move the trawler westward towards Italy, redirecting responsibility for receiving the migrants. There was no evacuation attempt; pushing the boat away from Greek territory was evidently far more important than saving hundreds of lives.
According to the United Nations refugee agency, the Greek coastguard and authorities should have intervened immediately. Their excuse that the migrants refused help contradicts international maritime law which states that both shipmasters and States have an obligation to render assistance to those in distress at sea regardless of their nationality, status, or the circumstances in which they are found, and irrespective of the intentions of those onboard. The seaworthiness of the vessel involved is also irrelevant.
Subsequently, Greek authorities tried to place the blame on nine of the men they rescued from the boat, arresting them on 15 June for ‘illegal trafficking of foreigners’. The Greek coastguard described them as ‘crew of the ship… who had distinct roles in the transport of the rest’. All are Egyptian nationals aged between 20 and 40. These charges include involuntary manslaughter. A brother of one of the accused said his sibling paid about £3,000 to be on the boat, amounting to proof, he said, that he was not a smuggler. Blaming the victims for the disaster is a callous attempt to avoid responsibility for a disaster which could easily have been avoided but for the racism that underpins the operation of Fortress Europe.
This tragedy is, however, all too frequent with more than 27,000 migrants having died or disappeared in the Mediterranean Sea since 2014. On 21 June, just one week after the Greek disaster, at least 35 people are feared to have drowned off the Canary Islands and 37 are missing after a boat capsized between Tunisia and Lampedusa. Despite these journeys from North Africa to Southern Europe being extremely dangerous, it is the only option for the many fleeing desperate circumstances. The reality upon arrival, however, is detention centres with appalling conditions, and ever-increasing deportation rates. Immigration policies are getting harsher by the year across Europe, and they have targeted people from Africa and the Middle East, in contrast to a far more generous welcoming of refugees from Ukraine following the Russian invasion. Fortress Europe is state racism writ large.
Scarlett Tereshkova
Defend all migrants and asylum seekers!
FIGHT RACISM! FIGHT IMPERIALISM! 295 August/September 2023
