Europe Correspondent<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Senior Europe Producer<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n A naval court in Greece has charged 17 coastguards over the deadliest migrant boat disaster in the Mediterranean Sea for a decade.<\/p>\n Up to 650 people were feared to have drowned when the overcrowded Adriana fishing vessel sank near Pylos, off the Greek coast, in the early hours of 14 June 2023.<\/p>\n Survivors later told the BBC that Greek coastguards had caused their boat to capsize in a botched attempt to tow it and then silenced witnesses. <\/p>\n “It has taken us two years just for these charges to come, even though so many people witnessed what happened,” one of the survivors, a Syrian man we called Ahmad, said on Monday. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n The Greek authorities have always denied the claims against them.<\/p>\n The Deputy Prosecutor of the Piraeus Naval Court has found that 17 members of the Hellenic Coast Guard should face criminal charges.<\/p>\n Among them is the captain of the coastguard ship, the LS-920, who is charged with “causing a shipwreck”, leading to the deaths of “at least 82 people”.<\/p>\n This corresponds to the number of bodies recovered, although it is thought as many as an additional 500 people drowned, including women and children who were all below deck.<\/p>\n The disaster occurred in international waters – but within Greece’s rescue zone.<\/p>\n The then-Chief of the Coast Guard and the Supervisor of the National Search and Rescue Coordination Centre in Piraeus are among four officials charged with “exposing others to danger”. <\/p>\n The captain of the LS-920 is also charged with “dangerous interference of maritime transport” as well as a “failure to provide assistance” to the migrant boat.<\/p>\n The crew of the ship are charged for “simple complicity” in all the acts allegedly committed by the captain.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n A coastguard ship had been monitoring the Adriana for 15 hours before it sank.<\/p>\n It had left Libya for Italy with an estimated 750 people on board. Only 104 of them are known to have survived.<\/p>\n We’ve been investigating since the day of the disaster and our series of findings has cast serious doubt on the official Greek version of events.<\/p>\n Within a week, we obtained shipping data<\/a> which challenged the claim the migrant boat had not been in trouble and so did not need to be rescued. <\/p>\n A month later, survivors told us the coastguard had caused their boat to sink in a disastrous effort<\/a> to tow it and then forced witnessed to stay silent. <\/p>\n Last year, a case against nine Egyptians was thrown out<\/a>, amid claims they had been scapegoated by the Greek authorities. <\/p>\n![\"Greek](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/480\/cpsprodpb\/5ee0\/live\/516bb0b0-3a42-11f0-8519-3b5a01ebe413.jpg.webp\")
Greek Coast Guard<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\nCaptain of coastguard ship charged<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
Doubts over Greek officials’ account<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n