Alarmphone | 01.04.2018
A Statement of Solidarity with the Survivors of the Agathonisi Shipwreck and their Relatives
On the 16th of March, two families tried to reach Europe through the Aegean Sea, one from Afghanistan, one from Iraq. They left Turkey and swiftly moved toward the Greek island of Agathonisi. But shortly before reaching it, they capsized. A relative of the Afghan family on Samos Island notified the authorities repeatedly, via phone and in person. At that point, many of the shipwrecked could have still been rescued. According to the survivors, they stayed afloat for several hours, waiting for help. But a Search and Rescue operation was launched only a day later, after local resident had discovered the first bodies, and they could recover merely more dead bodies. Three survivors, a woman from Afghanistan, and a man and a woman from Iraq, had been able to swim ashore and together with Afghan relative they denounced not only the delayed actions of Greek authorities, but also the inaction of an unidentified boat that was in sight of the shipwrecked people but did not come to their rescue.