Greek coastguard appears to sink refugee boat

A Greek coastguard has been accused of trying to sink an inflatable boat full of Syrian migrants.

According to Turkish daily Hurriyet, Greek commander Athanasios Athanasopulos was “shocked” after seeing the footage, and urged to take measures.

The video, allegedly captured by the Turkish coastguard on November, 12, went viral and prompted outrage by Human Rights Watch who raised the alarm over the actions of the yet unidentified crewman against refugee boats trying to reach Greece.

The raft’s 58 passengers scream and shout as the vessel starts to sink, before the Greek vessel sails away. Although the ship’s number is clearly shown in the video clips, Huffington Post Arabic was not able to ascertain whether it was Greek or not.

Later the refugees are seen in a half-sunken raft waving hands to Turkish coast guards and waiting to be rescued.

This is an edited version of an article which first appeared in Huffington Post Arabic.

“We would be very pleased if you order your team to refrain from such acts”, said Commander Rear Admiral Hakan Ustem, of the Turkish coastguard.

Last week, the Greek coast guard said that it had gone to the rescue of it almost 600 refugees in 21 separate incidents off the Aegean islands of Kos, Rhodes, Chios, Samothraki and Lesbos.

The Greek guard also stated that any attempt to sink a boat full of migrants is “incompatible with our values and culture and is absolutely deplorable”. In October alone, approximately 160,000 migrants and refugees crossed into Greece from Turkey. However, the Tsipras government has refused to take this step, citing fears that the European Union would then impose harsher sanctions on Greece for opening the border, leaving Greece to manage the thousands of refugees on its own.