LONDON: Greek officials have rejected various reports’ suggesting a migrant boat capsized 50 miles off the south coast because a rope was attached by coastguards.
So far 78 people are confirmed dead and a large number are feared to be still missing, including as many as 100 children. The incident as one of the worst such disasters this year occurred on the southern coast of Greece on Wednesday.
The coastguard stated initially it had kept a “discreet distance” while a government spokesman recently said that a rope was used when the coastguard approached the fishing boat.
Ilias Siakantaris told Greek TV that a few hours before the boat went down the coastguard had “used a rope to steady themselves, to approach, to look if they wanted any help”.
But he stressed, saying that “There was no mooring rope,” suggesting that there was no attempt to tow the boat or tether to it for any length of time adding that they refused it, and said ‘no help, as they wanted to go to Italy and they continued on their way.
The question of whether any of the ships tried to attach a rope to the migrant boat was first raised by an activist who said people on board had said they feared it could prompt their highly crowded boat to turn over.
A total of 104 people were saved from the sea soon after the incident after 02:00 local time on Wednesday but the chances of finding any more are disappearing fast.
The UN International Organization for Migration has described the sinking as one of the biggest tragedies in the Mediterranean.
The Coastguard’s timeline and account have been challenged, notably by one organization that says it was in contact with people on the fishing boat. An email sent by Alarm Phone on Tuesday afternoon warned the coastguard that as many as 750 people were on board and they were urgently asking for help.
The coastguard has stressed that from the first moment, it was in contact with the crew during the afternoon no request for assistance was made. Two commercial ships provided the boat with water during the evening, but coastguard officials have said repeated offers of assistance were turned down.
