bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

sponsorType

authorLocations

authors

paywallTypes

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

socialHeadline

headline

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

factSheets

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

copyrighted

customTimezone

liveContents

Associated Press

Greece denied a new report that accused its coastguard of brutally preventing migrants from reaching Greek shores, which also alleged that the practice had resulted in dozens of deaths.
A BBC report said it had been ascertained that 43 migrants drowned – including nine who were thrown into the water – in 15 incidents off Greece’s eastern Aegean Sea islands in 2020-2023. It cited interviews with eyewitnesses, following reports from media, charities and the Turkish coastguard.
Greek government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis insisted that there was no evidence to support the allegations.
“Our understanding is that what is reported is not proved,” he told a regular press briefing when asked about the claims on Monday. “Every complaint is looked into, and in the end, the relevant findings are made public.”

Greece is a major gateway for migrants from the Middle East, Africa and Asia seeking a better life in the affluent European Union.
Thousands slip into the country every year, mostly in small boats from neighbouring Turkey. Relations with Turkey are often tense, and the two countries’ coastguards have repeatedly traded accusations of mistreating migrants.
Migrant charities and human rights groups have repeatedly accused Greece’s coastguard and police of illegally preventing arriving migrants from seeking asylum by surreptitiously returning them to Turkish waters.
Greece has angrily denied that, arguing its border forces have saved hundreds of thousands of migrants from sinking boats.
The country’s reputation took a further knock in June 2023, when a battered fishing vessel with an estimated 750 people on board sank off southwestern Greece.
Only 104 people survived, despite the Greek coastguard having shadowed the vessel for hours, and survivors claimed the trawler sank after a botched attempt by the coastguard to tow it. Greek authorities again denied these allegations.
The new BBC report included a claim by a Cameroonian man that he and two other migrants were picked up by masked men, including policemen, just after landing on the island of Samos.
The man claimed all three were put in a coastguard boat and thrown into the sea, and that the other two men drowned as a result.

The report also quoted a Syrian man who said he was part of a group picked up at sea by the Greek coastguard off Rhodes. He said the survivors were put in life rafts and left adrift in Turkish waters, where several died after one life raft sank before the Turkish coastguard came to pick them up.
Marinakis said “it is wrong to target” the Greek coastguard. “In any case, we monitor every report and investigation, but I repeat: what is mentioned (in the BBC report) is in no case backed up by evidence,” he said.
The International Organization for Migration has declared the Mediterranean passage the world’s most perilous migration route. According to UN data, more than 23,500 migrants have died or gone missing in its waters since 2014.
On Monday, 64 people were missing at sea after a shipwreck off the Italian southern coast, while 11 were rescued and taken ashore to a Calabrian town, United Nations’ agencies said in a statement.
In a separate shipwreck, rescuers found 10 bodies of suspected migrants trapped below the deck of a wooden boat off Italy’s tiny Lampedusa island, the German aid group Resqship wrote on the social media platform X.
In the first shipwreck, which took place about 200km (125 miles) off Calabria, a boat that had set off from Turkey eight days earlier caught fire and overturned, the UN agencies said, citing survivors.
Additional reporting by Reuters and Agence France-Presse


How EV tariffs broke EU consensus and China’s ‘divide and rule’ plan

Meet Princess Theodora of Greece’s LA lawyer husband, Matthew Kumar: the actress-royal finally married her beau after 2 postponements, in a Greek Orthodox wedding in Athens

World Cup 2026: South Korea coach Hong Myung-bo denies claims of preferential treatment

Travellers seek best insurance against natural disasters, scams: Klook survey

Greece

Greece denies report of brutality to migrants, caused deaths of dozens at sea

Greece says its border forces have saved hundreds of thousands of migrants from sinking boats. File photo: dpa

A boat that later capsized on the open sea off Greece in June, 2023. File photo: Hellenic Coast Guard via Reuters

A sail boat used by migrants, sinking between Italy and Greece early Monday. Photo: Italian Coast Guard via AP

UN says record 120 million people forcibly displaced globally

In Gaza, the UN estimates 1.7 million people - 75 per cent of the population - have been displaced by war. Photo: Reuters

UN refugee chief Filippo Grandi. Photo: AP

The conflicts that have driven displacement include the war in Sudan. Photo: AFP

Syria remains the world’s largest displacement crisis, with 13.8 million people forcibly displaced inside and outside the country. Photo: AP

Donald Trump claims migrants in US illegally ‘building army’ to attack Americans

Donald Trump holding his campaign rally in the South Bronx, New York City. Photo: AFP

Trump supporters at the campaign rally. Photo: AP

Donald Trump at the campaign rally. Photo: AP

The crowd was more racially mixed than Trump’s usual rallies. Photo: AP

Body of missing British TV presenter Michael Mosley found on Greek island, family confirms

Doctor and television presenter Michael Mosley was found dead on the Greek island of Symi on Sunday. Photo: BBC via AP

An ambulance and a fire brigade van on a beachfront of Symi island. Photo: AP

Mosley’s body is retrieved from the spot where he was found on the island of Symi, Greece on Sunday. Photo: AP 

‘High risk’: Greece issues alert as early forest fires rage after 5 weeks without rain

Greece is once again battling forest fires, after five weeks without rain. File photo: dpa

This year’s forest fire season has started early in Greece. File photo: AP

A man wraps his shirt over his face near the seaside resort of Lindos on the island of Rhodes in Greece, during a 2023 fire. Photo: AP

Indians ship Modi-Meloni make-believe romance as G7 video goes viral

Italy’s Giorgia Meloni shares a smile with India’s Narendra Modi in their viral G7 video. Photo: X/GiorgiaMeloni

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is greeted on Friday by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni at Borgo Egnazia, a luxury Italian resort and spa that was the venue of this year’s G7 leaders’ summit. Photo: PA Wire/dpa

News

World

Europe

BBC investigation alleged Greece coastguard caused the deaths of 43 migrants in pushback operations in 2020-2023


BBC investigation alleged Greece coastguard caused the deaths of 43 migrants in pushback operations in 2020-2023.
