EU forces to launch anti-smugglers operations but let babies & children drown in the Aegean

A human tragedy occurred in the early morning hours of Sunday in the eastern Aegean Sea. A boat carrying refugees to Greece capsized and sunk, 3 nautical miles of the island of Farmakonisi. Several dozens people fell into the cold water, some of them were wearing life vests. But some people were trapped inside, when the boat flipped over in the sea, while winds were blowing with an intensity of 7 Beaufort.

Four infants were drowned. Also eleven children, 6 boys and 5 girls. Ten women and nine men did not make it as well. the Greek coat guard has reportedly rescued 68 people , while 31 passengers managed to swim to safety.  The number of missing is not known yet. Information about how many people were fleeing the war in Syria on this specific wooden boat on Sunday is not clear.

“Rescuers, who were alerted shortly before dawn by a resident of Farmakonisi, found most of the bodies floating near the wreck, but divers recovered seven from the cabin of the boat. Of the 15 children found dead, four were infants, the official said. The victims’ nationalities were not immediately known.”

Greek media report of a case, where the coast guard managed to save a baby, almost a month old, from certain death. “When they pulled the baby from the sea, it was almost frozen. They wrapped it in a blanket and tried to keep warm near the heater in the coast guard boat. The baby from Syria recovered and was saved.”

On the island of Leros where the rescued have been transferred, volunteers report of heartbreaking scenes and unbearable pain. A woman soaked in tear cries for her 9-month baby and her older child, 9 years old. A father mourns for his wife and his two kids, a young woman is desperately searching for her fiance. A mother keeps calling the name of her boy, survivors tell her that the boy has been drowned.

Some of the survivors will be taken to the island of Rhodes in order to recognized the bodies of the drowned. Then they will be probably taken back to Leros, get registered, get on a ferry boat to Piraeus port, arrive in Athens. They will spend some days in the Greek capital until they find a way to continue their way to other European capitals.

They will bury their pain deep in their heart and try to move on – literally and metaphorically. Another tragedy, the tragedy number 12? 13? 25? will be forgotten by the media and the politicians and the shocked public.

Then another tragedy will happen: another boat will capsize or break apart, another unknown number of children, women and men will drown. Again the media and the politicians and the public will be shocked. And forget it again… until another tragedy will happen.

A vicious cycle of human tragedies and drowned babies, that have turned the Aegean and the Mediterranean into the Sea of  the Dead Children.

Greek Coast Guard announced on Monday of 58 incidents in the last 3 days, where 1,429 refugees were rescued. 

In a picture above, a father ties to swim carrying his  baby. Together with other refugees, father and baby were on a plastic boat on their way form Turkey to the island of Lesvos, Greece.

Short off the Greek island, a hole in the plastic had the boat start sinking and desperate men and women trying to rescue their babies and children form certain death.

We have been reading since beginning of the spring about these tragedies and the slow-paced European Union still tries to find ways to cope with the Refugee Crisis.

Scared to death of losing power, coalition partners and voters, Germany violated the Schengen rules and decided to re-impose boarder checks. Neighboring Austria is about to do the same, Slovakia announced it already. Soon it will be inevitable that all EU countries with land borders will do the same. Except for Greece and Italy and  Spain, the countries where the majority of refugees arrive to using the sea way.

Unable to agree on the Refugees Distribution Quotas and incapable to halt the to the causes for migration, like find diplomatic solutions to end the war in Syria and Libya, for example, the European leaders hit … Bingo! They will use military force in order to stop the long swim of war refugees. They will try to curb the human smuggling with military vessels, submarines and aircraft.

The EU body for extenuate operations EU NAVFOR MED will expands its mandate and will launch anti-human smugglers operations.

EU NAVOR MED that was established in May 2015, has a mandate of three phases:

Phase one, in the EU’s words, consisted of “surveillance and assessment of human smuggling and trafficking networks” and started in June.

Phase two “provides for the search and, if necessary, diversion of suspicious vessels” in international waters and is expected to start in mid-October.

Phase three “would allow the disposal of vessels and related assets, preferably before use, and to apprehend traffickers and smugglers” also in Libyan waters and on Libya’s coasts.

September 16th, the EU member countries will meet for a conference on the issue and will pledge more naval assets for an operation to curb human smuggling in the Mediterranean Sea.

The “force generation conference”, to take part in Brussels under the auspices of the EU external action service, comes after ministers, on Monday, gave the green light to “phase two” of “EUnavfor Med”.

KTG understands that the EUNavfor Med will operate in the international waters between Libya and the rest of the European world.

Refugees’ babies and children will be apparently further allowed to be drowned in the Aegean Sea.