ATHENS:
Greece
on Monday denied a new report that accused its coast guard of brutally preventing
migrants
from reaching Greek shores, which also alleged that the practice had resulted in dozens of deaths.
A BBC report said it had been ascertained that 43 migrants drowned - including nine who were thrown into the water - in 15 incidents off Greece's eastern
Aegean Sea islands
in 2020-2023.
It cited interviews with eyewitnesses, following reports from media, charities and the
Turkish coast guard
. Greek govt spokesman Pavlos Marinakis insisted that there was no evidence to support the
allegations
. "Our understanding is that what is reported is not proved," he said when asked about the claims.
Migrant charities and
human rights groups
have repeatedly accused Greece's coast guard and police of illegally preventing arriving migrants from seeking
asylum
by surreptitiously returning them to Turkish waters. Greece has angrily denied that.
The new BBC report included a claim by a Cameroonian man that he and two other migrants were picked up by masked men, including policemen, just after landing on the island of Samos. The man claimed all three were put in a coast guard boat and thrown into the sea, and that the other two men drowned as a result. The report also quoted a Syrian man who said he was part of a group picked up at sea by the Greek coast guard off Rhodes. He said the survivors were put in life rafts and left adrift in Turkish waters, where several died.
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