“The use of the camera was not deemed necessary,” says the Coast Guard regarding the tragedy off Chios

Sources from the Hellenic Coast Guard confirm reports that during yesterday’s collision between the Coast Guard’s vessel and the speedboat carrying migrants, which resulted in 15 migrant deaths and 24 injuries, the camera was not used, and therefore, nothing was recorded from the moment of the tragic incident off Chios.

According to the latest information from NEWS24/7, unofficial statements from migrants to Coast Guard officers indicate that some survivors say their boat collided with the Coast Guard vessel, while others claim they do not understand how the collision happened.

The issue here is that in the Coast Guard’s history, the country was condemned for the case involving dead migrants at Farmakonisi, when the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) highlighted the identical testimonies collected by the Coast Guard from survivors, which were very different from the statements given by survivors to their lawyers later.

In fact, with the initial testimonies from the survivors to the Coast Guard, the case was initially archived. Eventually, when the ECHR condemned Greece, it deemed the testimonies from the survivors to the Coast Guard as unreliable.

Specifically, sources from the Coast Guard state:

The specific Coast Guard vessel has a thermal camera (i.e., an electro-optical thermal imaging sensor), which is used as an auxiliary tool in conjunction with radar for identifying and recognizing targets in the maritime field.

However, in this case, according to the captain’s statement, the specialized equipment was not activated because “its use was not deemed necessary,” as the speedboat with the migrants had already been spotted by a land-based observation camera and visually with the use of a spotlight.

The latest information from NEWS24/7 mentions unofficial statements from survivors to Coast Guard officers, with some survivors saying that their boat collided with the Coast Guard vessel, while others claim they do not understand how the collision occurred.

The issue here is that in the Coast Guard’s history, the country was condemned for the case involving dead migrants at Farmakonisi, when the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) had pointed out the identical testimonies collected by the Coast Guard from survivors, which were significantly different from those given to their lawyers later.

In fact, with the initial testimonies from the survivors to the Coast Guard, the case was initially filed away. Eventually, when the ECHR condemned Greece, it labeled the survivors’ statements to the Coast Guard as unreliable.