BEIRUT: Having faced widespread criticism over its dealings with a migrant boat that capsized earlier this month, Greece has now been accused of not responding to an offer to send a plane to monitor the vessel.
Eighty-two people were officially confirmed dead in the incident last week, but the UN said it is likely as many as 500 may have drowned.
On Saturday, the BBC quoted the EU border agency Frontex as saying the migrant boat had been spotted by one of its planes “hardly moving in the hours before it capsized,” which contradicts Greece’s claim that the vessel was on a “safe and steady course.”
According to the report, Frontex offered to send a plane to monitor the vessel, but received no reply from Greek authorities.
The overcrowded boat is believed to have set sail from Libya. It was detected for the first time in the early hours of June 13 heading toward Greece.
The Greek authorities said that the boat’s crew told coast guards that the vessel was heading to Italy, and asked to be left alone. The authorities deny not acting swiftly enough to avoid the tragedy, but have not commented on Frontex’s claim about its offer of aerial assistance.
Having analyzed the passage of other vessels on that day, the BBC claimed in its report that the migrants’ boat had barely moved for almost seven hours before capsizing around 80 kilometers away from Pylos, a coastal town in Greece.
More than 100 people are said to have been rescued, but according to survivors there were more than 700 on board, including around 100 children.
Pakistan’s interior minister has said that more than 350 Pakistanis were onboard. Media reports have claimed that there were Egyptian and Syrian passengers as well.
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EU border agency says Greece did not respond to offer to send plane to monitor capsized migrant boat
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EU border agency says Greece did not respond to offer to send plane to monitor capsized migrant boat
- Report says the boat was ‘hardly moving in the hours before it capsized’
- Greek authorities claimed that the vessel was on a ‘safe and steady course’
Venezuela swears in 5,600 troops after US military build-up
CARACAS: The Venezuelan army swore in 5,600 soldiers on Saturday, as the United States cranks up military pressure on the oil-producing country.
President Nicolas Maduro has called for stepped-up military recruitment after the United States deployed a fleet of warships and the world’s largest aircraft carrier to the Caribbean under the pretext of combating drug trafficking.
American forces have carried out deadly strikes on more than 20 vessels, killing at least 87.
Washington has accused Maduro of leading the alleged “Cartel of the Suns,” which it declared a terrorist organization last month.
Maduro asserts the American deployment aims to overthrow him and seize the country’s oil reserves.
“Under no circumstances will we allow an invasion by an imperialist force,” Col. Gabriel Rendon said Saturday during a ceremony at Fuerte Tiuna, Venezuela’s largest military complex, in Caracas.
According to official figures, Venezuela has around 200,000 troops and an additional 200,000 police officers.
A former opposition governor died in prison on Saturday where he had been detained on charges of terrorism and incitement, a rights group said.
Alfredo Diaz was at least the sixth opposition member to die in prison since November 2024.
They had been arrested following protests sparked by last July’s disputed election, when Maduro claimed a third term despite accusations of fraud.
The protests resulted in 28 deaths and around 2,400 arrests, with nearly 2,000 people released since then.
Diaz, governor of Nueva Esparta from 2017 to 2021, “had been imprisoned and held in isolation for a year; only one visit from his daughter was allowed,” said Alfredo Romero, director of the NGO Foro Penal, which defends political prisoners.
The group says there are at least 887 political prisoners in Venezuela.
Opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Corina Machado condemned the deaths of political prisoners in Venezuela during “post-electoral repression.”
“The circumstances of these deaths — which include denial of medical care, inhumane conditions, isolation, torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment — reveal a sustained pattern of state repression,” Machado said in a joint statement with Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, the opposition candidate she believes won the election.
President Nicolas Maduro has called for stepped-up military recruitment after the United States deployed a fleet of warships and the world’s largest aircraft carrier to the Caribbean under the pretext of combating drug trafficking.
American forces have carried out deadly strikes on more than 20 vessels, killing at least 87.
Washington has accused Maduro of leading the alleged “Cartel of the Suns,” which it declared a terrorist organization last month.
Maduro asserts the American deployment aims to overthrow him and seize the country’s oil reserves.
“Under no circumstances will we allow an invasion by an imperialist force,” Col. Gabriel Rendon said Saturday during a ceremony at Fuerte Tiuna, Venezuela’s largest military complex, in Caracas.
According to official figures, Venezuela has around 200,000 troops and an additional 200,000 police officers.
A former opposition governor died in prison on Saturday where he had been detained on charges of terrorism and incitement, a rights group said.
Alfredo Diaz was at least the sixth opposition member to die in prison since November 2024.
They had been arrested following protests sparked by last July’s disputed election, when Maduro claimed a third term despite accusations of fraud.
The protests resulted in 28 deaths and around 2,400 arrests, with nearly 2,000 people released since then.
Diaz, governor of Nueva Esparta from 2017 to 2021, “had been imprisoned and held in isolation for a year; only one visit from his daughter was allowed,” said Alfredo Romero, director of the NGO Foro Penal, which defends political prisoners.
The group says there are at least 887 political prisoners in Venezuela.
Opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Corina Machado condemned the deaths of political prisoners in Venezuela during “post-electoral repression.”
“The circumstances of these deaths — which include denial of medical care, inhumane conditions, isolation, torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment — reveal a sustained pattern of state repression,” Machado said in a joint statement with Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, the opposition candidate she believes won the election.
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