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.
EU border agency says Greece did not respond to offer to send plane to monitor capsized migrant boat
https://arab.news/cfhak
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’
Changes to US security strategy ‘largely consistent’ with Russia’s vision: Kremlin
- Kremlin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the current US administration was “fundamentally different from the previous ones”
MOSCOW: Russia has welcomed changes in the US National Security Strategy, saying the adjustments that marked a radical departure from Washington’s previous policy were “largely consistent” with Moscow’s vision.
Washington’s new National Security Strategy, published early Friday, took aim at allies in Europe, calling it over-regulated, lacking in “self-confidence” and facing “civilizational erasure” due to immigration.
The document stated that the United States would also prevent other powers from dominating but added: “This does not mean wasting blood and treasure to curtail the influence of all the world’s great and middle powers.”
Commenting on the new US strategy, the Kremlin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the current US administration was “fundamentally different from the previous ones.”
“The adjustments we’re seeing, I would say, are largely consistent with our vision,” Peskov said in an interview with state TV station Rossiya aired Sunday.
“President Trump is currently strong in terms of domestic political positions. And this gives him the opportunity to adjust the concept to suit his vision,” Peskov added.
The publication of the updated security strategy came as officials from Kyiv held talks in Florida with Trump’s envoys on the US-drafted plan to end the near four-year war in Ukraine.
Three days of talks produced no apparent breakthrough.
President Volodymyr Zelensky committed to further negotiations toward “real peace,” as Russia in the early hours of Saturday launched another series of drone and missile strikes at Ukraine.
Zelensky is due to meet with European leaders — French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz — in London on Monday to take stock of the negotiations.
