By ELENA BECATOROS Associated Press
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Emotional medical staff on the Greek island of Chios on Wednesday have spoken of frantic efforts to identify the parents of injured children after an overnight collision between a coast guard patrol boat and a speedboat carrying migrants killed at least 15 people and injured more than two dozen others.
Coast guard vessels and a helicopter were still scouring the sea off the eastern coast of Chios, an island located near the Turkish mainland, on Wednesday as it was unclear how many people had been on board the speedboat, the coast guard said. Initial information indicated the vast majority of passengers were Afghans, while one person was identified as a Moroccan national.
The bodies of 11 men and three women were recovered from the sea shortly after the collision late Tuesday, while one woman who had been hospitalized died a few hours later. Twenty-four people, including 11 children, remained hospitalized Wednesday, as did one of the two coast guard officers who were injured, hospital and coast guard officials said.
The survivors
Nighttime video footage from a dock in Chios showed injured people being offloaded from a boat and being led to waiting coast guard vehicles, their blue lights flashing. A young child kneels beside someone on the ground wrapped in a foil emergency blanket, holding on with an outstretched arm and resisting being led away before the child is eventually taken to a waiting car, limping.
Hospital doctors told local media Wednesday that the injuries were mainly broken bones, traumatic abdominal injuries and head injuries, while three people were in serious condition in the intensive care unit. Two pregnant women also suffered miscarriages.
“On the pediatric side, one problem we had was finding the parents,” said pediatrician Kirykas Zannikos, pausing to compose himself as his voice broke and he struggled to fight back tears. The children ranged in age from 1 to 15. Some parents were located among the injured on Wednesday, he said, including one mother who was in intensive care.
Olympia Kouvara, a representative of the hospital staff, described the case of one baby that clung to a medical worker’s arms as staff tried to locate the parents. Despite fears they were among the dead, the child’s mother was later identified as being one of the surgical ward patients.
“There are some times like these when we also break down,” Kouvara told the politischios local news website.
Doctors said that all hospital staff, including administrative staff, rushed to the hospital on Tuesday night to volunteer as those on duty struggled with the sudden influx of injured and dead.
Smugglers blamed
“Our sorrow for the loss of 15 human lives in Chios is unspeakable,” said Maritime Affairs Minister Vassilis Kikilias, under whose responsibility the coast guard falls. “Modern-day smugglers, traffickers, are the enemies of the country. They put human lives in mortal danger, both of those unfortunate people and of the members of the coast guard.”
An investigation would be conducted “with transparency and professionalism,” Kikilias said.
Greek President Constantine Tassoulas expressed his grief at the loss of life, saying that “the support of the Greek state will be unwavering” for the survivors.
Details of exactly what happened were unclear. According to a coast guard statement, one of its patrol boats came across the speedboat late Tuesday making its way towards Chios without its navigation lights on. The speedboat refused to stop despite sound and visual signals by the patrol boat and changed direction, colliding with the patrol boat and capsizing, the statement said.
Photos posted by the coast guard showed signs of abrasion on the patrol boat’s right side. The coast guard’s account couldn’t be independently verified.
Reducing crossing attempts
Greece is a major entry point into the European Union for people fleeing conflict and poverty in the Middle East, Africa and Asia, and fatalities are common.
Many undertake the short but often perilous crossing from the Turkish coast to nearby Greek islands, often in overcrowded inflatable dinghies or aboard speedboats piloted by smugglers. But increased patrols and allegations of pushbacks — summary deportations without allowing for asylum applications — by Greek authorities have reduced crossing attempts.
“Let me stress something which we cannot stress enough. Every life lost as sea is a tragedy,” EU spokesperson Markus Lammert said. “At the hands of smugglers, too many people risk their lives and lose their lives, and this is exactly what we’re working on to prevent.”
In December, the EU was overhauling its migration system, including streamlining deportations and increasing detentions.
There has long been a fierce debate among EU members about migration. Since a surge in asylum-seekers and other migrants to Europe a decade ago, public debate has shifted and far-right parties have gained political power. EU migration policies have hardened, and the number of asylum-seekers is down from record levels.