Hellenic Coast Guard Crew Charged for Deaths of Dozens of Migrants

On Tuesday, prosecutors in Greece charged 17 crewmembers from a Hellenic Coast Guard cutter for allegedly causing the capsizing that killed dozens (if not hundreds) of migrants off Pylos in 2023. 

On June 10, 2023, the aging trawler Adriana got under way from Libya, bound for Italy with an estimated 400-750 irregular migrants on board. The overloaded fishing vessel entered the Greek search and rescue zone on June 13, and the Hellenic Coast Guard dispatched patrol vessel LS-920 to the scene. 

On June 14, the fishing vessel capsized and sank; 82 bodies were recovered, 104 survivors were saved, and up to 500 people were presumed dead. 

Survivors alleged that LS-920 attempted to tow the Adriana. During the third and final tow attempt, survivors told media, the Adriana capsized. The Hellenic Coast Guard strongly disputed these accounts and maintained that no towing attempts occurred. The agency refused to launch its own internal disciplinary investigation, even after the Greek government's ombudsman asserted that LS-920's crew may have violated the law. 

In May, nearly two years after the sinking, the deputy prosecutor of the Piraeus Naval Court concluded that there was enough evidence to charge the crew of response vessel LS-920. The commanding officer of the patrol vessel has been charged with "causing a shipwreck," resulting in the deaths of 82 people - the number of bodies recovered from the scene. The 16 members of the crew face charges of "simple complicity" for following the commanding officer's orders. Four officials, including the then-head of the Hellenic Coast Guard and the head of the National Search and Rescue Center, were charged with exposing others to danger for their role in the LS-920's operations. 

Under Greece's judicial system, the charges mean that the suspects will now be questioned by prosecutors at the Piraeus Naval Court. The prosecutor will then decide whether to bring the case to trial. 

In addition to the facts of the night of the sinking, the prosecutors will likely explore accounts of an alleged cover-up. 
Beginning immediately after the sinking, some survivors said that they were instructed by Hellenic Coast Guard officers not to talk about any alleged "towing attempt." The agency also told investigators that on-scene video and VHF recordings of the casualty - the only hard evidence of what happened that night - were missing. VHF recordings were later leaked to the press.