Greek coastguard 'threw migrants overboard to die'

The Greek coastguard has been accused of causing the deaths of more than 40 migrants in the Mediterranean over a number of years – including nine who were allegedly thrown overboard into the sea and allowed to drown.

- ANDY GREGORY

Victims said they had either been thrown into the sea or cast afloat in damaged inflatable rafts before they could make asylum claims in Greece. One man said the Greek coastguard had thrown him into the sea with his hands zip-tied together, saying: “They wanted me to die.”

Greece has long denied accusations of pushing people back towards Turkey where they crossed from, which is illegal under international law. The country’s coastguard has repeatedly denied all accusations of illegal activity.

The allegations aired in a new BBC documentary last night. Journalists analysed 15 incidents over the three years to May 2023 in which people are claimed to have died as a result of the coastguard’s actions.

While the initial sources for the documentary, titled Dead Calm: Killing in the Med? were primarily local media, NGOs and the Turkish coastguard, the BBC said it had corroborated four of these cases through eyewitness testimony – which they said showed a clear pattern.

In four of the five cases in which migrants said they were thrown into the sea, they described being hunted down by officials after landing on the Greek islands.