As death toll rises to 81, new accounts clash with official version of migrant disaster off Greece
Malakasa (Greece) (AP): The number of confirmed victims from one of the worst migrant shipwrecks in the Mediterranean rose to 81 Monday after three more bodies were found off southern Greece, as more survivors claimed that the battered trawler had been under tow by another vessel just before it sank with hundreds of people aboard.
The new accounts raised further questions about the Greek coast guard's response from the moment it located the ship until it went down.
Officials in Athens have insisted that the metal fishing boat carrying migrants from Libya to Italy was at no point under tow, and only had a line briefly attached to it hours before it capsized and foundered.
The coast guard has also been widely criticized for not trying to rescue the migrants before their vessel sank. It argued that they refused any assistance and insisted on proceeding to Italy, adding that it would have been too dangerous to try and evacuate hundreds of unwilling people off an overcrowded ship. The full details of the incident remain unclear.
Ali Sheikhi, a Kurdish man from the war-scarred town of Kobani in northeast Syria, had hoped the vessel would take him to a better life in Europe. Then, he would eventually bring over his wife and three young sons.
Instead, the ship sank in international waters two hours after midnight on June 14. Only 104 survivors have been found so far, and 81 bodies recovered. But many accounts backed by Sheikhi say up to 750 people were on board.
He told Kurdish TV Rudaw that he and other relatives from Kobani, including a younger brother who died, had agreed to pay smugglers USD 4,000 each for the trip a sum later raised to USD 4,500.
"We said 'no problem,' so long as the boat was big and in good shape," he told Rudaw late Sunday, speaking by phone from a closed reception centre near Athens where survivors have been moved. "They told us we should not bring any food or anything else because it is all available on the boat."
The smugglers didn't let anyone bring lifejackets, and threw whatever food the passengers had into the sea, he added, echoing accounts from other survivors. Sheikhi said he and his companions were directed to the ship's hold a deathtrap where hundreds, including women and children, are believed to have drowned but got onto the deck after paying extra money to the smugglers.
By the time the ship sank, they had been five days at sea. Water ran out after a day and a half, and some passengers resorted to drinking seawater.
Crucially, Sheikhi said the trawler went down after its engine broke down and another vessel tried to tow it.
"In the pulling, (the trawler) sank," he said. "We don't know who it belonged to." Similar claims have been made by other survivors in accounts posted on social media, and other survivors were anonymously quoted in Syrian media Monday saying the ship was being towed.
"One side went up and the people fell from there into the sea," Sheikhi told Rudaw. "The people started to scream" in the dark. "Every person tried to hold on to the other and pull him under so he stayed above water. I thought then no one will survive."
Greek authorities have insisted that the ship wobbled violently before sinking after an abrupt shift in position by many of its passengers.
A Greek navy frigate, with four other vessels and two aircraft continued to search the area Monday, and recovered three more bodies the first found since Wednesday that raised the confirmed toll to 81.
In the southern port of Kalamata, where survivors were initially taken, a court postponed for Tuesday a hearing for nine Egyptian alleged crew members of the trawler. The men face multiple charges including negligent manslaughter and people smuggling.
The court gave the suspects and their lawyers time to review the testimonies of nine Syrian and Pakistani survivors, provided over the weekend.
Meanwhile, passengers' relatives who flew in from several European countries arrived at the migrant center in Malakasa, north of Athens, trying to track down family members known to have been on the boat. About 20 people were allowed into a restricted area next to the facility: they spoke to relatives through the fence, passing them documents, snacks and soft drinks.
Zohaib Shamraiz, a Pakistani man living in Barcelona, didn't know if his 40-year-old uncle, Nadeem Muhamm, was alive five days after the perilous trip.
"I spoke to him five minutes before he got on the boat. I told him not to go. I was afraid. He said he had no choice," Shamraiz told The Associated Press.
In their last conversation, Muhamm described being herded onto the ship with others by smugglers carrying swords, Shamraiz said. "He told me there were too many people but if the (passengers) didn't get on the ship, they would kill them."
Shamraiz travelled to Greece Monday attempting to trace his uncle and to provide a DNA sample to crossmatch the ones retrieved from recovered bodies.
"I tried to find news. I checked the news in Pakistan and everywhere I could find. I had to come to find my uncle," he said. His uncle, who had been travelling alone, is married and has three young children in Pakistan.
He is very poor and he was trying to help his family have a better life, Shamraiz said.
The other survivors, all men and youths, were from Egypt, Syria and the Palestinian territories.
Duccio Staderini, a senior official for Greece at the Doctors Without Frontiers (MSF) international charity, said smuggling networks were growing stronger due to migration "bottlenecks" resulting from Europe's tight border policies.
"The smugglers, these criminal networks are emerging because of these bottlenecks," he told The AP after visiting survivors in Malakasa. "And it's getting worse and worse, and uglier and uglier."
In a separate incident Monday, Greece's coast guard said 68 people were rescued in the eastern Aegean Sea after the sailboat they were on sent a distress signal off the coast of the island of Leros.
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Cabinet reshuffle is CM's prerogative in consultation with Cong high command: G Parameshwara
Bengaluru(PTI): Amid speculation that a cabinet reshuffle was on the cards, Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara on Wednesday said it is the prerogative of the Chief Minister and he would take a decision in consultation with the state Congress President and the high command.
Deputy CM and state Congress chief D K Shivakumar's statement on Tuesday indicating the possibility of a cabinet reshuffle in the days ahead, noting that few Ministers have been given a "message" about their term, has further fueled the speculations about the rejig.
"I don't know about it. Cabinet reshuffle is the Chief Minister's prerogative. He will consult the Pradesh Congress Committee President and go about it, this has been the practice. I don't know what decisions they make. It has to be done in consultation with the high command," Parameshwara told reporters.
To a question on Shivakumar's statement, he said, "He (Shivakumar) is the party state President, I don't know what messages he has sent (to some Ministers)."
Speculations are rife about a cabinet reshuffle and evaluation of the performance of the Ministers ever since the Lok Sabha poll results. There has also been demand from a section of MLAs, who are Ministerial aspirants, to be inducted into the cabinet. Some have openly expressed their wish to become Ministers.
To a question on a seer's comments that the voting rights of Muslims should be revoked, the Home Minister said, making remarks contrary to the Constitution is not right, and no one should speak or go against it.
"Probably he (seer) has not properly seen the principles of the Constitution and the rights and opportunities provided in it for every community and religion. It is clear in the Constitution," he said.
Asked about Congress MLA H R Gaviyappa publicly asking the CM to drop at least two of the five ‘guarantee’ schemes to provide money for development works, the state Home Minister said, "Any legislator asking for funds to his constituency is not wrong, so Gaviyappa is not wrong in asking for funds for his constituency."
"But unfortunately he has expressed his personal opinion regarding the guarantee schemes. That has been taken by the party and the government. We had promised the people of the state that we will full the promises, so we are implementing them. We cannot go back on that," he added.
Deputy CM Shivakumar had on Tuesday said he would issue a showcause notice to Gaviyappa and warned party leaders against making such statements regarding guarantee schemes.
Responding to a question on an Assamese girl found murdered at a serviced apartment in east Bengaluru, Parameshwra said such incidents in a way bring bad name to the city.
"It (alleged murder) is on very personal grounds. Both of them (suspect and victim) knew each other and were in love. They had stayed in a hotel room and he has stabbed her there. Both of them are outsiders. She is from Assam and he is from Kerala. Police keep watch on such things, but when such incidents occur, it in a way brings a bad name to the city," he said.
Asked about the suicide of a woman, who is a suspect in the alleged scam in Karnataka Bhovi Development Corporation, the Minister said investigation is on, can't say anything further until the probe is over.
On the protest by prisoners against the jail authorities at Kalaburagi central prison, alleging lack of facilities there, Parameshwara said he will speak to DG (Director General) Prisons about it.
"Already we have reviewed all the jails. If there are any necessities there it will be fulfilled. I will give instructions to the DG," he said.
