Shipwreck in Pylos: Why did a fishing boat carrying migrants sink?

Was there a load shift? What could have been done to prevent the tragedy?

The search and rescue operation for the missing people in the shipwrecked sea area of ​​Pylos is going on in full swing.

So far 78 bodies have been found and 104 people have been rescued. However, as the hours pass, hope that they will be alive is fading, while authorities have yet to specify the number of missing, 700 refugees, among them women and children.

At the same time, the questions of how this “floating coffin” sank remain unanswered. Was there a change in load as stated? What could have been done to prevent the tragedy?

“A ripple can turn it around”

“The boat was full. “There is no problem with shifting cargo, assuming people are stacked evenly in the holds,” Professor Grigoris Grigoropoulos of the NTUA Shipbuilding Department told ERT.

He estimated that the way the loading was done led to some stability of the sinking ship, and explained that most of the unfortunate migrants were above the main deck.

“While the boat was sailing, the engine was on, so the captain took care of the helmsman to avoid side waves. “Obviously there was fuel in it, some water in it, some stuff that played a small part in stability and ran out along the way,” he said.

Mr. According to Grigoropoulos, the hijackers apparently intended to repair the damage and failed to do so, causing the boat to capsize.

“When the boat is without an engine, it cannot be steered. So, if it gets some waves on the side, it can avoid them on the boat’s way, a wave that leads to vibration and overturns it”, he underlined.

When asked why the captain of the boat did not get help, Mr. Grigoropoulos replied that there could be no legal intervention by a third party and that the captain was solely responsible.

“It’s a Floating Grave”

In turn, Nikos Spanos, a retired admiral of the Coast Guard and an international expert, described the ship as a “floating tomb” and attributed the tragedy to its age.

“It was a rotten ship, literally a floating grave, a ship without any certificates, dragged to death, to a wet grave, by I don’t know how many people. We will never know how many died. Because such old boats are not needed, smugglers usually keep them. After all, they are not worth it,” Mr. Spanos told ERT, underlining that traffickers keep women and children until they reach their destination.

Also, the retired admiral opined that the tilt that led to its sinking was deliberately caused by the hijackers. “It’s a very sad situation, a very cruel death,” he commented.

The Coast Guard’s Official “Numbers”

According to the Coast Guard, the official death toll is 78 and not 79 as originally reported. Among those rescued were 47 Syrians, 43 Egyptians, 12 Pakistanis and 2 Palestinians. Among them are 10 minors, 5 Egyptians and 5 Syrians.

It is not yet clear if the boat’s driver is among the missing as information is not clear. However, according to the testimony of the activist who first contacted the refugees before the shipwreck, the passengers apparently told him that they did not know that the boat’s driver had abandoned it and that they could not get to Italy. where to go

Census of the rescued

Unconfirmed reports say authorities have launched an investigation to identify the kidnappers among those rescued, but no arrests have been made so far. Besides, after a shipwreck, it is a common tactic of port authorities to search for smugglers among the rescued, and make arrests.

At the same time, Giorgos Oikonomo, deputy prosecutor of the Supreme Court, oversees the investigations and investigative proceedings for the shipwreck off Pylos, at the behest of Isidoros Togiakos, the prosecutor of the Supreme Court.

In Kalamata, where the investigations are taking place, Kalamata Public Prosecutor’s Office Head Balixeni Tsuli is overseeing all proceedings.