One week ago, a submersible by OceanGate carrying five people lost contact with its mother ship, sparking international attention and a weeklong search mission by the Canadian and American coastal guards. But for all the press surrounding the imploded submersible, another equally tragic capsizing occurred four days prior, to much less media attention.
On June 14th, four days prior to the implosion of the Titan submersible, the Andriana, carrying an estimated seven hundred refugees from Libya to Italy, capsized, resulting in the confirmed deaths of 82 people and 500 more still missing. According to the Washington Post, of the 104 survivors, 47 were Syrian, 43 Egyptian, 12 Pakistani, and two Palestinian.
The journey was not the first of its kind. Since 2011, an ongoing humanitarian crisis in Libya has driven tens of thousands of refugees onto unsafe, unseaworthy vessels in an attempt to flee to Europe. Due to a combination of factors, including the use of outdated, unsafe vessels, the route from North Africa to Italy across the Mediterranean has been deemed the deadliest in the world by the UN, with an estimated 21,000 deaths since 2014.
Around half of the passengers are estimated to be Pakistani. The ongoing economic disaster in Pakistan, which has forced thousands of people to seek opportunities abroad, has resulted in even more refugees attempting to cross the Mediterranean into Europe in search of asylum - often risking their lives.
The capsizing - and the unsafe nature of the boat - draws attention to the desperate circumstances that push tens of thousands of refugees to risk their lives in search of a better life in Europe. European governments have drawn criticism for tightening their borders and adopting a harsher stance towards immigration, with critics arguing that, by turning a back on immigrants, refugees are forced to find increasingly desperate solutions to get to Europe, such as by boarding a dangerous and unseaworthy fishing trawler.
Josie Naughton, CEO of Choose Love, a UK NGO supporting refugees around the world, drew attention to the compounding factors that led to the disaster. “The best way to prevent the deaths of migrants, asylum-seekers and refugees seeking safety is to create ‘safe and legal routes for asylum-seekers to reach safety so that they’re not forced to take these journeys,’” Naughton said, in an interview with NBC.
Circumstances surrounding the cause of the capsizing are still mysterious. On June 13, the Italian coast guard reported a boat in distress. According to AP News, later the same day, “a merchant vessel approached the ship and provided it with food and supplies, while the (passengers) refused any further assistance”. Additional attempts to offer assistance were also refused, with the migrants wishing to continue to Italy.
Alarm Phone, a hotline for migrants in danger, reported receiving a phone call of a vessel in distress, with migrants stating the vessel was overcrowded and the captain had abandoned the ship - but it’s unclear if the vessel that made the phone call to the hotline was the same vessel that capsized.
Between 1:40 and 2:00 AM EEST on June 14, the engine had broken down. The Greek coast guard attributed the capsizing to a shift in weight on the overcrowded boat, caused by a massive movement of passengers to one side, eventually causing it to tip over.
However, survivors claim that the Greek coast guard attempted to tow the boat, but due to negligence and attaching the ropes incorrectly, the fishing trawler ultimately capsized. According to a Syrian survivor, who spoke to CNN, “the Greek captain pulled us too fast, it was extremely fast, this caused our boat to sink. If they had left us be, we wouldn’t have drowned.”
The Greek coast guard denied the account, Nikos Alexiou, a spokesperson for the coast guard, stating that, “when the boat capsized, [the coast guard was] not even next to the boat. How could [they] be towing it?”
A BBC investigation, which tracked the boat’s movements using MarineTraffic, found that the vessel had not moved for at least seven hours before capsizing, contradicting the coast guard’s account.
The UN has called for an investigation of the Greek coast guard’s actions leading up to the capsizing.
Survivors are currently in a port in Kalamata, Greece.
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