Greek coastguard accused of 'throwing migrants overboard to their deaths'

THE Greek coastguard has been accused of sending nine migrants to their deaths by deliberately throwing them overboard into the sea.

Over three years, dozens of other migrants died in the Mediterranean as a result of the coastguard, according to witnesses.

BBC analysis also found that over 40 people died after allegedly being forced out of Greek territorial waters or made to go back out to sea after reaching Greek islands.

The outlet released footage of 12 people being forced into a coastguard boat before being abandoned in a dinghy, which a Greek coastguard officer called an "obviously illegal" "intentional crime".

The Greek government has been repeatedly accused of allowing forced returns of migrants, but the Greek coastguard denies all allegations of wrongdoing.

Under international law, it is illegal for Greece to send migrants back towards Turkey - where they have crossed from. The BBC analysed 15 incidents from May 2020-2023 and found 43 deaths - four of which were corroborated by eyewitness accounts.

Five of the incidents involve migrants alleging that they were deliberately thrown into the sea by Greek authorities, and four cases claim to have been "hunted down" once they reached Greek islands. Other incidents include claims of migrants being put into inflatable rafts without motors, which then deflated or were punctured.

One Cameroonian man told the outlet he was "hunted" by Greek authorities after arriving at Samos in September 2021 and planned to register as an asylum seeker.

He, along with Cameroonian Sidy Keita and Didier Martial Kouamou Nana, from Côte d'Ivoire, was then transferred to a Greek coastguard boat.

He said: "We had barely docked, and the police came from behind. There were two policemen dressed in black, and three others in civilian clothes. They were masked, you could only see their eyes. They started with the [other] Cameroonian. They threw him in the water.

"The Ivorian man said: 'Save me, I don't want to die... And then eventually only his hand was above water, and his body was below. Slowly his hand slipped under, and the water engulfed him. Punches were raining down on my head. It was like they were punching an animal."

He claims he was also pushed into the water without a life jacket, but was able to swim to shore. The bodies of the others washed up on the Turkish coastline. The lawyers of those who survived are demanding that Greek authorities open a double murder case.