@ABoatReport condemns alleged Greek Coast Guard shooting at boat carrying 38 people

Aegean Boat Report has condemned alleged shooting of 38 people including children by the Greek Coast Guard.

Late Friday night, @BoatReport said “Greek authorities say Coast Guard personnel fired gunshots to stop a high-powered speedboat carrying 38 people north of Rhodes. According to the official statement, warning shots were fired first, followed by what the Coast Guard calls “targeted gunfire” aimed at disabling the vessel.”

According to @BoatReport, this explanation raises serious questions.

It said firing at a small moving boat in the dark, from another moving vessel at sea, while 38 civilians — including many children — are onboard, is not a controlled or precise operation. It is extremely dangerous.

“Even a trained marksman would struggle to hit a specific target under such conditions. From a moving patrol vessel, in the dark, using a handgun or shotgun, the idea of accurately hitting a precise point on a fast-moving boat is highly questionable.

“Bullets can easily miss, ricochet off the hull, or strike people onboard. The boat was reportedly packed with passengers. So the central question remains: Why did they open fire at all?

@BoatReport added that “Greek authorities claim, as they routinely do in such incidents, that the vessel was “maneuvering dangerously and putting lives at risk.” But was it actually maneuvering dangerously — or simply trying to get away from the Coast Guard?

“Because once officers begin firing at a vessel carrying 38 people — 15 of them small children — the question of who is truly putting lives at risk becomes unavoidable.”

@BoatReport noted that if the intention was to arrest the smugglers, there were safer alternatives, adding  “boats transporting migrants often attempt to return to Turkey after dropping passengers. Allowing the passengers to disembark safely and intercepting the vessel on its return would avoid placing dozens of civilians directly in the line of fire.

“Instead, gunfire was used against a boat filled with men, women and children.This is not the first time such reckless actions have been reported. Outside Symi, a man was shot in the head during what authorities also described as “targeted shots.” More recently, off Chios, a Coast Guard vessel collided with a migrant boat during a high-speed chase, leaving 15 people dead.

In this case, no one was killed. But that does not make the decision any less dangerous.

One must also ask whether the onboard cameras on the Coast Guard vessel were operating during this incident. In previous cases, footage that could clarify what happened has often been unavailable, with cameras reportedly “not activated” or “not functioning.”

“Once again, the Greek Coast Guard appears willing to place the lives of civilians — including children — at extreme risk in the name of border enforcement.It is only a matter of time before such actions end in tragedy again.According to authorities, the 38 people onboard were eventually taken to land on Rhodes: 17 men, six women and 15 children. Two of the men, Turkish nationals aged 41 and 31, were arrested on suspicion of smuggling.”