Testimonies from Chios: “The Coast Guard’s vessel passed over us without warning”
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The first testimonies from survivors of the shipwreck in Chios, given in the presence of a translator and the hospital’s director, contradict the Coast Guard’s account.
- 05 Φεβρουαρίου 2026 14:59
“We were moving slowly in the boat. It was overcrowded. We were very close to the shore. Suddenly, a huge spotlight turned on in front of us. There was no sound or anything else. The Coast Guard’s vessel immediately sped up and passed over us.”
This testimony was given in the presence of a translator provided by the Chios hospital to Gabriel Sakellaris and Nastos Iliopoulos, who were there and later spoke to NEWS 24/7.
Furthermore, this took place in full coordination with the hospital’s director, who accompanied the two men to the survivors’ room. It is worth noting that the investigation into the causes of the tragedy, surrounded by many unanswered questions, is undermined by the Coast Guard’s decision not to use the thermal camera that was on the vessel involved in the incident. According to the Coast Guard, “it was deemed unnecessary to use it.” This decision resulted in no footage being recorded from the moment of the collision with the speedboat carrying migrants.
Sources from the Coast Guard confirmed these details yesterday, stating:
“The particular vessel of the Coast Guard has a thermal camera (electro-optical infrared sensor), which is used as an auxiliary tool in combination with radar for detecting and identifying targets in the maritime area. However, in this case, according to the captain’s statement, the equipment was not activated because ‘its use was not deemed necessary,’ as the speedboat carrying migrants had already been detected by land surveillance cameras and visually using a spotlight.”
According to yesterday’s information from NEWS 24/7 about the unofficial testimonies of survivors to the Coast Guard, it was leaked that some survivors stated their boat collided with the Coast Guard’s vessel, while others said they didn’t understand how the collision happened.
The issue here is that this is not the first time this has occurred. In 2023, during the shipwreck that resulted in hundreds of migrant deaths off the coast of Pylos, the Coast Guard vessels also failed to record what happened on the night of the deadliest shipwreck in the Mediterranean in decades.
