GREEK authorities were complicit in their efforts to rescue a migrant boat that sank along with over 700 people onboard, many of them Pakistanis, according to a BBC News report.
Around 350 Pakistanis were onboard the Adriana, which capsized on June 14, 2023, in international waters, but within Greece’s rescue zone.
Only 82 bodies were recovered, with the UN estimating that around 500 people died in the accident.
According to a leaked audio, Greek rescue officials told the captain of the migrant boat to tell an approaching ship that those onboard do not want to reach Greece, the BBC News report said.
The audio recordings, obtained by a Greek website News247.gr, revealed that in a first call, at 6:50pm local time on June 13, a rescue officer told Adriana’s captain that a red vessel would soon approach them to give supplies and that he should explain that the migrants do not want to reach Greece.
In a second call, at 10:10pm, another officer told the captain of Lucky Sailor (the “big red ship”) to “write it in your logbook” that the migrants wanted to go to Italy and not Greece.
Previously, the BBC had reported that the boat capsized as Greek rescuers tried to attach a rope to tow it.
Two survivors also told the outlet that they were pressured by the Greek coastguard to identify nine Egyptians on board as traffickers. The Greek coastguard denied these claims, saying it didn’t try to rescue the boat as those onboard wanted to reach Italy, not Greece.
The claims of the botched rescue attempt were confirmed by 30-year-old Usman Siddique, who was one of the 12 Pakistani survivors of that wreck.
Mr Siddique was a policeman in Gujrat, who took a year’s leave to make the journey towards Europe. He rejoined duty after returning home on July 7, 2023. He told Dawn that around 12 hours before it sank, a helicopter took pictures of the boat and flew away.
A cargo ship stopped near the boat on the same day for more than an hour, as the crew gave the migrants water bottles and bread, he added.
However, late in the evening, Mr Siddique said, a big ship with Greek coast guards onboard arrived and remained at the scene for at least an hour.
Despite being requested by the immigrants, particularly women and children for help, Mr Siddque said, the vessel left the scene.
Another ship then arrived at around 10 or 11pm and “towed our boat with a rope”. As soon as the ship pulled the boat, it started breaking up after tilting left and right.
“There was a hue and cry as people were drowning. Some held on to the rope, which kept them alive,” Mr Siddique told Dawn. While most of the migrants perished, around 100 were rescued by another ship that arrived later.
Mr Siddique survived because he had learnt how to swim during his police training.
The cop, belonging to Kaleki village on the outskirts of Gujrat, had decided to go to Italy along with his four friends and left for Libya in May 2023. He said most of those who died in the accident were Pakistanis hailing from Gujrat, Gujranwala, Mandi Bahauddin and Azad Kashmir.
Waseem Ashraf Butt in Gujrat also contributed to this report
