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Assignment: Surviving Greece's migrant boat disaster

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Surviving Greece's migrant boat disaster

07/09/2023 GMT

BBC World Service - Assignment, Surviving Greece's migrant boat disaster

Three men describe surviving one of the worst migrant shipwrecks in decades

Three men describe surviving one of the worst migrant shipwrecks in decades.

In the early hours of 14 June, a heavily overcrowded, rusty fishing trawler carrying as many as 750 migrants capsized off the coast of Greece. The passengers - men, women and children from countries including Pakistan, Egypt and Syria - were fleeing conflict and poverty, hoping to start safer and more prosperous lives in Europe.

After its engine broke down, the boat drifted for several hours while desperate passengers made distress calls and waited for rescue. Only 104 people survived the sinking. More than 600 may have drowned, making this one of the deadliest disasters in Europe’s ongoing migration crisis.

Nick Beake travels to Greece to meet survivors of the sinking, who are now living in a refugee camp outside Athens. He hears how they endured a four-day voyage, during which several passengers died due to a lack of food, water and ventilation on board. Brutal smugglers forced them to board the dangerous boat, and confiscated water bottles and life jackets to make room for extra passengers.

Many of the survivors have accused the Greek coastguard of causing the sinking by attempting to tow the heavily overloaded vessel. Greek authorities have denied these claims. Nick meets a Greek activist who volunteers for an emergency hotline that received distress calls from passengers on the ship. She explains that the 14 June disaster is not the first time the Greek coastguard has come under scrutiny, and it has previously been accused of using aggressive and illegal tactics to deter migration.

Presenter: Nick Beake
Producer: Viv Jones
Sound engineer: Graham Puddifoot
Series Editor: Penny Murphy

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