FROM THE SENT IN KALAMATA. «We asked for help from 12 (lunch time, ed), because the boat’s engine had stopped. But help came late, only in the evening, around 21.30. The Greek coastguard came at that hour, but didn’t help us right away. He waited.” Hadi Mahmood Makieh’s testimony to La Stampa is a reconstruction that leaves no room for doubt. If confirmed, he would place the responsibility for the sinking of the vessel wrecked on Wednesday off Pylos with 600 dead on the Greek maritime authority. That first she would not have intervened, then she would have implemented a wrong and dangerous towing maneuver, considering the high load of the boat, which was carrying 750 migrants.
Hadi, a Syrian from Damascus, is being assisted today in the Malakasa refugee camp in Athens. He says: «The sea was calm. The Coast Guard watched. After a long time, he launched a cable from the port side to try and pull our boat. The cable was tied up by an Egyptian who was on board, but we lost it, because it wasn’t tied right. At that point, one of the coastguards came and tied him up better.’ Did he come aboard? “Yes, he came aboard to tie the cable. We got carried away by the left. The boat capsized, maybe caught a wave. I ended up in the sea. I swam four hours before being rescued. When they found me, I passed out.”
Let’s imagine a fishing boat full of people being dragged along with a line. The vessel leans to one side from the weight. And this would square with the stories of other migrants, who explain how many moved to counterbalance and the boat started to rock. The Greek Coast Guard, on the other hand, in recent days has denied having launched any lines. Then, he changed his mind, but spoke of a rejected rescue offer, finally of a late night rescue, though he never admitted towing the distressed boat.
The joy of the living and the pain of the suspended
Hadi woke up after the disaster in the Kalamata hospital. He had injured his shoulder. On the boat he was carrying an unaccompanied minor, Yakoub Abdulwahed, aged 13, but he says he lost sight of him in the tragedy. “The children and women were on floor minus two of the ship. Below them, there were only the frigid.’ Yakoub’s uncle, Emad Abdulwahed, cannot rest. Even yesterday he continued desperately to look for his nephew. There appear to be 8 minors who survived, no one gives names. And after many pleas from the family member, there is not even confirmation that the rescued minors have already spoken to the relatives who filed a complaint, which would eliminate any hope of finding him alive. In the chaos of rebounds and communications, Emad, like hundreds of families, is waiting for a voice from the Greek authorities, which never arrives. «We’ll let you know, there are 250 requests like yours. We’ll look into it,” he heard.
Hadi, on the other hand, met and embraced his parents on Friday in Malakasa, in tears. He explains to us that he was at the front of the vessel, with other Syrians. “I have lost many friends.” No one knows if they are among the 78 bodies found or among the almost 600 sunk.
The violence during the trip
As the days go by, the shock fades for him. He started eating again. He remembers many things about the crossing. «On the second day after leaving Libya, they no longer gave us anything to eat or drink. Many fainted. I was on the bridge.” And again, “the traffickers shot ten people who were rebelling, they killed them all”. He also confirms that boats have come to help them: “Two oil boats gave us water.” On board, someone had been allowed to keep their cellphones, but they soon ran out of battery. «I had put it in my pocket, together with my wallet where I had some money. When I woke up in the hospital, I couldn’t find him anymore.”
Interrogations of smugglers and Frontex
On the investigation front, the nine arrested smugglers will appear before the magistrate on Monday morning. They are all Egyptians. Yesterday, however, four witnesses were transported from Malakasa to Kalamata to provide their reconstruction. In the mess of conflicting versions of the authorities, Frontex also gets involved. Which makes it known that none of its drones or boats “were present at the time of the tragedy”. The European Border Police sighted the vessel on June 13 «before noon in the Greek Sar area, in international waters. She was overloaded and sailing at low speed (6 knots) heading north-east. We have informed the Greek and Italian authorities,” they say. Then, Frontex ran out of fuel and returned to base. The Greek Coast Guard would eventually divert them to another incident south of Crete, with 80 people at risk.
Alarm Phone questions
Calling for an independent investigation into the Pilo shipwreck is Alarm Phone: «Why doesn’t it appear in the first reports that the Coast Guard has provided assistance? – asks the NGO -. Why was the help of the Mayan Queen needed (the private luxury yacht that rescued 15 migrants in the night, ed)? What did Frontex do? How did the other competent authorities react, Italy among others, when they learned of the emergency?». Questions that remain unanswered for now. What is certain is that more and more migrants are contradicting the Greek Coast Guard: the fishing boat was not traveling towards Italy, it remained stationary for many hours, and it is not true that she did not ask for help.