BBC Investigation Questions Greek Account of Boat Tragedy

Facts

• A BBC investigation has cast doubt on the Greek coastguard’s claims about a shipwreck involving hundreds of migrants that occurred last Wednesday. Movement analysis shows that the migrant ship had not moved for seven-plus hours, despite Greek authorities claiming that the boat was not in danger until just before it capsized.¹
• In what could be the second deadliest recorded migrant shipwreck, the Greek coastguard and other rescue officials recovered 78 deceased persons and found 104 survivors since the boat traveling from Libya to Italy sank off Greece’s south coast. 500 migrants are believed to have drowned.²
• Many of the migrants on board were from Pakistan, and the country’s authorities have arrested 10 alleged human traffickers for their role in smuggling people from the Middle East into Europe illegally. Pakistan vowed to crack down on the “heinous crime” as it held a day of mourning for the victims.³
• Nine Egyptian men were due in a southern Greek court on Monday but their hearing was postponed until Tuesday. The Kalamata court delayed the trial so the Syrian and Pakistani defendants could review their testimonies after being accused of being part of a smuggling ring.⁴
• As the migration crisis surges in Europe, the latest tragedy has sparked debate over whether European nations are doing enough to help the migrants taking perilous journeys to reach Europe. Greece’s coast guard has defended its actions amid the latest criticisms.⁵
• As more information emerges, some have questioned the Greek account of the tragedy and whether the country knew there was a problem hours before the migrant ship capsized. The UN has called for an investigation.¹

Sources: ¹BBC News, ²Associated Press (a), ³Al Jazeera, ⁴Associated Press (b), and ⁵CNN.

Narratives

• Narrative A, as provided by Breitbart. Last week’s shipwreck involving hundreds of migrants was an absolute tragedy, but shame on those trying to blame Greece for the events that transpired. Greek authorities have worked tirelessly with other European and international organizations to rescue as many people as possible and to right the wrongs of evil human traffickers. The “experts” at these non-governmental organizations have no solutions for handling a crisis in which thousands of people are taking life-threatening journeys to illegally enter a destination country.
• Narrative B, as provided by Guardian. It may be easy for European leaders to deflect blame onto “evil” smugglers for the tragedies involving migrants, but there is a lot more involved. Greek authorities are the latest European officials to callously ignore the life-threatening problems of a boat traveling in their waters, putting hundreds of lives in jeopardy. The fact that smugglers may take innocent people doesn’t absolve the responsibility to save the people in danger, and Greek officials are ignoring their duty.