A BBC investigation that included eyewitness accounts said the Greek coast guard was responsible for the deaths of more than 40 migrants in 15 incidents in the Mediterranean, spanning a three-year period.
According to the report, nine migrants were “deliberately thrown” into the sea. Those people and the other migrants were forced out of Greek territorial waters or turned away after reaching Greek islands.
“This is the first time the BBC has calculated the number of incidents which allege that fatalities occurred as a result of the Greek coast guard's actions,” the British broadcaster said.
The Greek coast guard has denied the allegations, which stemmed from the BBC’s analysis of 15 incidents between May 2020 and May 2023. The BBC said its sources for the report included NGOs, the Turkish coast guard, local media and witnesses.
“Our understanding is that what is reported is not proved,” Greek government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis said Monday at a press briefing.
The BBC’s findings will be featured in a documentary, “Dead Calm: Killing in the Med?”
For years, there have been reports that the Greek coast guard forced migrant vessels to turn around and head toward Turkish waters. A number of the migrant boats originate from Turkey. Greece and Turkey have accused each other of mistreating the migrants.
Migrants from Africa, Asia and the Middle East view Greece as a gateway to Europe and a better life in European Union nations.
According to Greek law, migrants seeking asylum can register their claims at centers on several islands. But the migrants told the BBC they were stopped by men wearing masks and not in uniforms and were apparently working undercover.
The BBC said it showed Dimitris Baltakos, the former head of special operations with the Greek coast guard, footage of the people, including women and babies, being loaded onto a coast guard boat and then put on a raft, which drifted until the group was rescued by the Turkish coast guard.
The BBC reported that Baltakos refused to speculate about what the footage showed. But out of camera range and with his microphone still active, he said in Greek to someone that what he saw was “obviously illegal” and “an international crime.”
One Cameroonian migrant told the BBC that after landing on the island of Samos in 2021, he was planning to register for asylum but was apprehended by police before he could stake his claim.
He said the police took him and two other men back out to sea and threw the two men into the water, where they drowned. He said he was beaten before the police threw him into the water without a life jacket, but he was able to swim ashore.
The bodies of the two migrants washed ashore on the Turkish coastline. The BBC reported that the survivor’s lawyers are demanding that Greek officials open a double murder case.
In 2023, the Greek coast guard came under international criticism when a trawler with hundreds of migrants onboard sank and more than 600 people died. The Greek coast guard was reported to be in close proximity to the trawler.
