How hundreds of migrants drowned on Greece’s watch
Post Reports
The Washington Post
4.4 • 5.1K Ratings
🗓️ 13 July 2023
⏱️ 22 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On June 14, a ship with as many as 750 migrants aboard from countries including Pakistan and Syria sank off the Greek coast. Hundreds of people died. We hear about what happened and about a Post investigation that suggests this was a preventable tragedy.
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Today on “Post Reports,” we hear the story of one of the deadliest migrant tragedies in recent history, when an overpacked ship sank in one of the deepest points of the Mediterranean Sea.
Louisa Loveluck, The Post’s Baghdad bureau chief, explains what happened on the ship and what survivors described. She also discusses a recent Post investigation of the disaster, which casts doubt on some of the main claims by Greek officials in response to the tragedy and suggests that more could have been done to save lives.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | On June 14th, a ship overpacked with 750 migrants began sinking off the coast of Greece, near |
| 0:10.0 | the deepest point of the Mediterranean Sea. |
| 0:12.2 | They were from Syria, they were from Pakistan, they were from Egypt, and they were all trying |
| 0:16.9 | to get to Europe and search for a better life. |
| 0:20.1 | That's Luisa Lovelock, Baghdad Bureau Chief for the Washington Post. |
| 0:24.0 | The truer was on the water for four or five days during which time the engine wasn't working |
| 0:29.4 | properly, conditions became incredibly dire. |
| 0:32.7 | And then on the fifth day, they sent out their first distress call. |
| 0:36.3 | They realized they were in trouble, they were scared they were going to sink, and they |
| 0:39.5 | tried to get help. |
| 0:41.3 | Desperate passengers make multiple calls over several hours. |
| 0:44.9 | One of them reaches human rights activist Noal Soufi. |
| 0:50.7 | You hear her speaking with a migrant on the ship. |
| 0:53.4 | She's told that six passengers have died. |
| 0:56.4 | She says she'll send a message out to Italian authorities. |
| 1:08.4 | There's panic across the ship. |
| 1:10.2 | Noal tells the migrant on the line that people need to hold on, hold on so that the boat |
| 1:15.8 | doesn't capsize. |
| 1:16.8 | Over 600 people may have drowned. |
| 1:33.5 | The Washington Post recently carried out an investigation into the tragedy. |
| 1:37.4 | Also, the post investigation really costs down on claims by Greek officials, and it suggests |
| 1:43.4 | that this deadliest Mediterranean shipwreck was a preventable tragedy. |
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