Frontex says Athens ignored an offer to travel to the site of a migrant shipwreck
A boat sinking off the coast of Greece has killed at least 82 people. Since then, many questions have been raised about the various responsibilities related to this tragedy.
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The Greek agency Frontex confirmed on Monday, June 26 that Greece had ignored an offer by the European Border Agency to provide air aid before the sinking of the migrant boat that left at least 82 dead and hundreds missing off the coast of Greece. The sinking of this overloaded boat raised many questions about the chain of custody.
Frontex provided additional air support to the Greek authorities on 13 June, but received no response.Said the press service of Frontex, the Warsaw-based European border and coast guard agency. Earlier on the day of the tragedy, the Italian Coordination Center (MRCC) had ordered a Frontex aircraft to search for the trawler at 8:33 GMT (10:33 am Paris time). Frontex said the latter was seen at 9:47 GMT.
The aircraft monitored the fishing boat for about 10 minutes before forcing it to return to base to refuel.Frontex explains. Ten days ago, the agency had already indicated that it had proposed to the Greeks to send a drone to patrol without delay over the Aegean Sea. But Greek authorities ordered that drone to be deployed to another rescue operation in southern Crete where 80 people were in danger, according to Frontex.
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