The nine survivors submitted their accounts on June 17-18 to investigators conducting a preliminary probe into the disaster. Greek prosecutors are forbidden by law from commenting on live inquiries. The shipping ministry, which oversees the coastguard, told Reuters it couldn’t comment on issues that were the subject of a confidential and ongoing investigation by prosecutors. The statements of the six witnesses clash with the public statements given by the Greek coastguard and government, which have said no attempt was made to tow the boat and that it overturned when the coastguard was about 70 meters away. Reuters is not publishing the names of the nine survivors who gave the accounts, which haven’t been made public. Three other witnesses said they didn’t know what caused the Adriana to capsize. The migrant boat tilted left and right and then it turned upside down, he added. One Syrian survivor said he and other migrants on board the Adriana, which had broken down en route to Italy, screamed “Stop!” after a Greek coastguard vessel attached a rope to the bow of the trawler and began to pull it while picking up speed. They have told judicial authorities of a doomed attempt to tow the overloaded trawler that caused the vessel to capsize in the early hours of June 14.Ī disastrous coastguard towing attempt was recounted in six of the nine statements from survivors submitted to Greek judicial officials investigating the causes of the tragedy, according to evidence seen by Reuters. Some also said the tragic end, when it came, was precipitated by the actions of the Greek coastguard. They recounted hellish conditions above and below deck, with no food or water. MALAKASA/KALAMATA, Greece, June 30 (Reuters) – Survivors of a boat disaster that likely killed hundreds of migrants near Greece have given accounts of traffickers in North Africa cramming them into a clapped-out fishing trawler.
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