17 members of Greece's coastguard have been prosecuted over the country's deadliest migrant shipwreck, which claimed hundreds of lives, rights groups representing the survivors and victims said Friday.
Survivors said the coastguard failed to respond adequately when the rusty and overloaded trawler Adriana sank on the night of 13 June 2023 off Pylos, southern Greece, en route to Italy.
It was carrying more than 750 people, according to the United Nations, but only 82 bodies were found.
Lawyers for the rights groups said criminal prosecutions had been initiated for 17 officers.
They included the captain of the coastguard rescue vessel dispatched to the area of the wreck that night, who is charged with failure to provide assistance. He and several other officials stand charged with exposing others to danger.
Six rights groups, in a statement, called the decision to prosecute "a significant and obvious development in the path towards justice and accountability for the victims".
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Among the 104 survivors, dozens have filed a group criminal complaint, alleging the coastguard took hours to mount a response when the boat was in trouble, despite warnings from EU border agency Frontex and the NGO Alarm Phone.
The prosecution also targets the then chief of the coastguard, the supervisor of the Greek National Search and Rescue Coordination Centre, and two navigation safety officers on duty that day, the lawyers said.
The boat was sailing from Tobruk, Libya, to Italy. As well as Syrians and Palestinians, it was carrying nearly 350 Pakistanis, according to the Pakistani government.
Survivors said the coastguard eventually responded and was towing the vessel when it finally capsized and sank 47 nautical miles off the coast of Pylos.
The coastguard has said it communicated with people on board who "refused any help", rendering any rescue operation in high seas risky.
But lawyers for the survivors have said the coastguard chose to dispatch just a patrol boat from Crete - and not a larger rescue tugboat stationed closer by at the port of Gytheion in the Peloponnese region.
The patrol boat's voyage data recorder was damaged and was only repaired two months after the accident, they said - nor was there any video footage from the patrol boat.
