More than 500 dead in a boat accident in the Mediterranean – the most important things in 6 points Just 29 caricatures showing what is going on in Trumpistan

A ship sank in the Mediterranean Sea, southwest of Greece, last Wednesday morning. The 30-meter steel fishing boat was heavily overcrowded with refugees who, according to rescuers, had left the Libyan city of Tobruk. Several hundred people are believed to have drowned in the accident. What is known about it so far.

How did the shipwreck off Greece happen?

There are various statements about this, much is still unclear. Frontex boss Hans Leijtens tells the Süddeutsche Zeitung that his employees discovered the boat on Tuesday and reported it to the authorities. The Italian authorities say they also informed their Greek colleagues on Tuesday about an overcrowded refugee boat in their waters. The Greek Coast Guard, as well as passing cargo ships, said they repeatedly radioed for assistance to the boat’s crew. However, the captain declined the offer: they wanted to reach Italy.

However, Alarm Phone, an organization that takes distress calls from refugee ships, says people on board have pleaded desperately for help on numerous occasions. The responsible authorities have also been informed. The passengers also reported that the captain had left the cutter with a dinghy and that they had been supplied with water by one of the freighters.

According to reports, a stampede ensued on board after the engines failed. The boat lost its balance, capsized and immediately sank. Survivors report that many on board were unable to swim and hardly anyone wore a life jacket. Plus, the people who would have been below decks couldn’t have escaped out so quickly.

Meanwhile, survivors have complained that the Greek Coast Guard towed the boat. This led to a weight shift that caused the boat to capsize. However, the Coast Guard denied that he tried to tow the boat.

Karl Kopp, spokesman for Pro Asyl, says in an interview with ZEIT ONLINE: “There were helicopters on site and other ships. No one wanted to intervene. That was orchestrated end-of-life care.”

What happened to the people on board the refugee boat?

Survivors estimate that there were up to 700 people on board the ship. 104 passengers were saved. Authorities now estimate more than 500 dead, many of them children. So far, 78 bodies have been recovered by the Coast Guard. The accident site is about 50 nautical miles southwest of the Greek peninsula of Peloponnese, just above the Calypso layer, which is the deepest point in the Mediterranean at over 5,000 metres. Salvage of the wreck and other victims is therefore considered almost impossible. The recovered dead have already been taken to Athens, where, among other things, DNA samples will be used to identify the bodies.

The 104 survivors were initially housed in tents in the port of Kalamata and will be taken to the Malakasa refugee camp near Athens on Friday. According to authorities, 26 of them were treated in hospital, mainly for hypothermia. According to the Coast Guard, most of the people are from Syria, Afghanistan and Pakistan. The Greek Coast Guard also arrested nine survivors who allegedly acted as smugglers. The Egyptian-born men are charged with, among other things, human trafficking and negligent homicide, state broadcaster ERT reports.

How dangerous is the escape route across the Mediterranean?

The sinking of the boat with several hundred dead is one of the greatest boating tragedies in the Mediterranean, said Gianluca Rocco, head of the Greek section of the International Organization for Migration (IOM). And at the same time, it is only the most recent case of refugees drowning in the Mediterranean. At least 72 people died off the coast of Calabria at the end of February. In 2023, according to the IOM, 1,154 people have died trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea or are missing. In 2022, there were 2,406 people. Although the Mediterranean route is the deadliest migration route in the world, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), it is the main route for refugees to the EU. According to Frontex, the number of people fleeing across the Mediterranean has more than doubled in the past five months compared to the same period last year. It is the highest value since 2017. In recent years, Greece has tightened controls on its waters. Smugglers are therefore choosing increasingly dangerous, long routes south of Greece directly to Italy.

Tightening surveillance and increased withdrawals have shifted escape routes to the eastern parts of Libya, where the Frontex presence would not be as strong, Sea-Watch spokesman Felix Weiss said. “We’re seeing a significant increase in activity there, especially in Benghazi and Tobruk.” From there, the now capsized ship was thrown loose. The crossing takes about five days, making it significantly longer and significantly more dangerous than the western routes, where boats usually reach the Italian coast in one and a half to two days, says Weiss.

What is the situation of sea rescue in the Mediterranean?

The NGO Sea-Watch describes the situation as catastrophic. In particular, the Libyan and Tunisian coasts are now being closely monitored by Frontex, which mainly controls the area with drones and aircraft. If a ship is sighted, the sea rescue centers in Malta and Italy are informed, which then inform the authorities in the North African countries. According to Sea-Watch’s Felix Weiss, they would then initiate the pullbacks and bring people back to the starting gates. The NGOs have not been officially informed for a long time, says Weiss. “The NGOs must inspect the ships themselves and then inform each other.” Time is often short. They quickly try to contact nearby merchant ships and persuade them to rescue them. However, readiness has declined significantly, Weiss says, as crews feared sanctions. According to Sea-Watch, nine NGOs have rescue vessels at sea in the Mediterranean, of which six or seven are currently operational.

Meanwhile, the NGOs are apparently waiting for millions of dollars in aid from Germany to be announced, which according to a Der Spiegel report is being blocked by the Federal Foreign Office.

How do politicians react?

Chief of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen tweeted, she was “deeply saddened” by the many deaths. “We must continue to work together, with our Member States and third countries, to prevent such tragedies.” Similarly, according to the Tagesschau, Chancellor Olaf Scholz said: “It is depressing and once again calls on all of us to do everything we can to ensure that people do not choose these dangerous escape routes.” UN Secretary-General António Guterres wrote: «Anyone who goes in search of a better life deserves safety and dignity.» They are expressions of condolence that are often heard after similar disasters. But this time they are accompanied by particularly harsh criticism: just a few days before the sinking of the ship, the European Union agreed on a compromise on asylum policy reform. Critics therefore accuse the EU of hypocrisy. “This accident is the result of European refugee policy. A policy of isolation and letting people die,” he said Pro-asylum spokesman Karl Kopp. “This catastrophe could have been avoided if international law had been respected.”

How does the boat accident relate to European migration policy?

The sinking of the ship comes at a politically explosive moment with the recently decided reform of the Common European Asylum System. According to the Federal Ministry of the Interior, for example, it was about being able to act again “after years of blockade” by various member states. The reform should, among other things, make it possible to deal with asylum procedures for people from countries of origin that have a low recognition rate for asylum applications at the EU’s external borders, for example in Tunisia – before a potentially dangerous Mediterranean crossing. It can be assumed that the vast majority of these applications will then be rejected. In return, all member states commit to accepting refugees or making monetary payments.

The EU states that its compromise aims to counter so-called irregular migration. However, critics counter that this only makes them more dangerous. The argument: if access to the EU is officially made more difficult, people will resort to smugglers, for example, and undertake the perilous journey across the Mediterranean. The states on the EU’s external border, including Greece and Italy, are accused of using illegal pushbacks to thwart this smuggling, pushing the boats back out to sea.

With material from the dpa

This article was first published on Zeit Online. Watson may have changed the headings and subheadings. Here’s the original.