On June 14, the news was released that a boat filled with as many as 750 refugees had capsized near the coast of Greece.
There were at least 78 deaths from drowning, with hundreds more people currently missing. The Greek Coast Guard has rescued around 100 people so far. Many of the refugees were escaping war, while others were seeking work to support their families back home. Some were even children. A list of missing people from two towns in the Nile Delta shows that half of the escaping people were under the age of 18.
Many refugees thought that they didn’t have a choice. Matloob Hussein, a Pakistani who was sent back to Pakistan when his Greek residency renewal was rejected, called his brother from the boat. “He said the boat was very bad,” his brother Adiil recalled. “He said they had loaded people on the boat like cattle.” Matloob said that he didn’t refuse to board because he noticed the smugglers had guns and knives.
Survivors of the accident recall that many of the people were trapped on the lower deck of the ship as it was sinking, and that a large number of these people had a low to zero percent chance of surviving. Rumors spread that most of the refugees on the ship died during the accident, and an arrested smuggler provided no updates on the whereabouts of the migrants that have not been found yet. Family members of the migrants are anxiously waiting for updates on the status of the survivors and missing people, with many people on the Greek mainland gathering at migrant reception centers.
Part of the reason the trip was more dangerous than previous smuggling operations is that refugees are now heading to Italy rather than Greece. Italy, which is further away from the countries where the migrants are coming from, takes longer to reach by boat. In addition to the already hard and long journey, Greece has become increasingly less welcoming to refugees. The Greek migration ministry has been criticized for forcibly expelling asylum-seekers in violation of international law. In addition, a video released in May showed refugees being forced onto a Greek coastguard vessel before being set adrift, highlighting the distant attitude that the Greek migration ministry has towards refugees. However, the migration ministry blamed international smuggling networks for risking the lives of refugees, despite their own actions against migrants.
https://eb18600f7bb2916037f5ee8e636ce199.cdn.bubble.io/f1687707239039x781447615300021100/How%20750%20migrants%20ended%20up%20on%20the%20boat%20that%20capsized%20near%20Greece%20-%20The%20Washington%20Post.pdf
Source:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jun/14/scores-drown-refugee-boat-sinks-off-greece
There were at least 78 deaths from drowning, with hundreds more people currently missing. The Greek Coast Guard has rescued around 100 people so far. Many of the refugees were escaping war, while others were seeking work to support their families back home. Some were even children. A list of missing people from two towns in the Nile Delta shows that half of the escaping people were under the age of 18.
Many refugees thought that they didn’t have a choice. Matloob Hussein, a Pakistani who was sent back to Pakistan when his Greek residency renewal was rejected, called his brother from the boat. “He said the boat was very bad,” his brother Adiil recalled. “He said they had loaded people on the boat like cattle.” Matloob said that he didn’t refuse to board because he noticed the smugglers had guns and knives.
Survivors of the accident recall that many of the people were trapped on the lower deck of the ship as it was sinking, and that a large number of these people had a low to zero percent chance of surviving. Rumors spread that most of the refugees on the ship died during the accident, and an arrested smuggler provided no updates on the whereabouts of the migrants that have not been found yet. Family members of the migrants are anxiously waiting for updates on the status of the survivors and missing people, with many people on the Greek mainland gathering at migrant reception centers.
Part of the reason the trip was more dangerous than previous smuggling operations is that refugees are now heading to Italy rather than Greece. Italy, which is further away from the countries where the migrants are coming from, takes longer to reach by boat. In addition to the already hard and long journey, Greece has become increasingly less welcoming to refugees. The Greek migration ministry has been criticized for forcibly expelling asylum-seekers in violation of international law. In addition, a video released in May showed refugees being forced onto a Greek coastguard vessel before being set adrift, highlighting the distant attitude that the Greek migration ministry has towards refugees. However, the migration ministry blamed international smuggling networks for risking the lives of refugees, despite their own actions against migrants.
https://eb18600f7bb2916037f5ee8e636ce199.cdn.bubble.io/f1687707239039x781447615300021100/How%20750%20migrants%20ended%20up%20on%20the%20boat%20that%20capsized%20near%20Greece%20-%20The%20Washington%20Post.pdf
Source:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jun/14/scores-drown-refugee-boat-sinks-off-greece
