Greek Coast Guard forces nine children into life raft, abandons them at sea

The Greek Coast Guard has been accused of forcing nine children into a life raft and abandoning them at sea.

The Aegean Boat Report made tye allegation in its recent report.

The report reads: “On the night of Friday 28 June, Aegean Boat Report published an emergency alert regarding a group that had arrived on the uninhabited Greek island of Vatos, north east of Chios, and was in imminent danger of being pushed back by Greek authorities.

“We immediately published about this group to try to draw attention to it, so that it would have at least a fighting chance. Sometimes, publicity can persuade Greek authorities to do the right thing. This, unfortunately, was not one of those.”

Shortly after 21.00, Aegean Boat Report said all phones went offline, and “we understood that something was about to happen.

“The last message received was a picture of a man, in civilian clothes, t-shirt, shorts, sunglasses and a small bag strapped over his chest, with the text: “This is one of the men who want us to go with them”.

“The two men who approached the group obviously worked in cooperation with the coast guard, tricking the group to believe they would help them, so that they came willingly, walking straight into the lion’s mouth.

Instead of helping the Afghan refugees, they took them to the Greek Coast Guard vessel, transported them back out to sea, and forced them into an engineless raft, abandoning them at sea.

This time, one was caught on camera, directly linking him to a serious crime taking place on European soil: the kidnapping of 20 people, detaining them arbitrarily, exposing them to inhuman and degrading treatment and endangering their lives.”