Greece to detain Moroccan over fatal migrant boat collision

ATHENS: Greek authorities have ordered the detention of a Moroccan suspected of piloting a boat involved in a collision with a Greek coast guard vessel in which 15 asylum seekers died.
Questions are growing over the deadly crash late on Tuesday involving a coast guard patrol vessel and the high-speed migrant boat off the island of Chios, near the Turkish coast.
Fifteen of the asylum seekers were killed and 24 survivors from the boat, including the Moroccan, were admitted with injuries to hospital in Chios.
Late on Saturday, a Greek court ordered the Moroccan’s detention, which is expected to take place in the coming days.
He denies being at the helm of the migrant boat, the Greek press quoted his lawyers as saying.
Six children from the boat, some of them suffering from multiple fractures, were transferred to a paediatric hospital in Athens on Saturday.
The director of Chios hospital said most of those on board were Afghans.
The migration ministry has said the accident was caused by the boat attempting to evade the Greek authorities.
But Greek media and opposition parties have queried the details of the nighttime collision, and have questioned why the patrol boat’s thermal camera was not switched on.
None of the survivors have testified so far as to the circumstances of the crash.
Rights groups and international media have repeatedly accused Greece of illegally forcing would-be asylum seekers back into Turkish waters, backing their claims with video and witness testimonies.