Two women are missing and 32 people, among them three children, have been rescued after a dinghy carrying migrants sank or overturned off the island of Lesvos on Wednesday morning.
15 men, 14 women and 3 children were located off Palios by Mandamados during a routine patrol of the Greek Coast Guard.
Two Greek patrol boats, one vessel from the European border agency Frontex and two helicopters participated in the search and rescue operation.
Migration Minister Notis Mitarakis expressed his sorrow over the shipwreck and blamed the Turkish Coast Guard but also NGOs for the incident.
He said on a tweet that the TCG did not respond to a distress signal sent out by the dinghy but allowed it to cross into Greek territorial waters.
“Based on the testimonies by the rescued migrants, the Turkish coast guard vessel that located them initially (the migrants called an emergency number) did not help, or rescue them but allowed them instead to illegally cross the maritime borders of the European Union,” Mitarakis said in a post on social media.
It is inconceivable to allow inflatable boats, that do not meet any safety requirements and are being steered by people without permission and knowledge of the rules of the sea, to cross the Aegean.
— Νότης Μηταράκης – Notis Mitarachi (@nmitarakis) December 2, 2020
Mitarakis also blamed NGOs for “contributing (unintentionally perhaps) to the loss of lives.”
Additionally, NGOs encouraging these behaviors (unintentionally perhaps), need to realize their actual mission and immediately stop contributing to the loss of lives.
— Νότης Μηταράκης – Notis Mitarachi (@nmitarakis) December 2, 2020
PS it’s the mantra of this Greek government: “We’re perfect, blames the others for every failure.” Generally speaking.
Having grown up in the 60’s as a Turkish immigrant in Montreal in a neighbourhood with mostly Greek population, I became close friends with many.
At age 69 I am still close friends with many.
As a follower of news media, in numerous languages, I am very much disappointed in the continuous misinformation and biased stories in numerous Greek papers and news sites, like “keeptalkinggreece.”
A better approach would be to to simply present the news, not add political and cultural biases.
Can you clarify what political and / or cultural bias is on display in the above article, that you are taking issue with?
Misinformation??? Please, could you be more specific and give an example or two?? Could be interesting….