ATHENS – Greece’s Coast Guard said after chasing a boat carrying refugees – and avoiding a ramming attempt – that it opened fire, killing one in an incident off the island of Symi in the Eastern Aegean Sea.

In a statement, the coastguard said the man died “probably from a bullet” and that shots were fired at the outboard engine of the migrant boat in an effort to immobilize it after it ignored warnings to stop, reported Reuters.

https://gcaptain.com/greek-coastguard-fires-on-migrant-boat-one-dead/

The Coast Guard told the news site it is investigating and a source not named said that a prosecutor had also ordered the arrest of the officer who fired the shots and the confiscation of that weapon.

The boat, carrying 14 migrants – eight men, one woman and five minors – had left Turkey’s nearby shores and unlawfully entered Greek territorial waters, added the Coast Guard, which is trying to keep out refugees and migrants.

The statement said that after the refugee boat was spotted by a patrol it tried to speed away and ignored visual and audio warnings, tried evasive maneuvers and turned and tried to hit the Coast Guard vessel, putting the crew in danger.

“Warning shots were fired to prevent an immediate risk to the Coast Guard vessel and its crew … and subsequently targeted shots were fired at the outboard engine aimed at immobilizing the speedboat,” the statement added.

The dead migrant was believed to be from Kuwait. Two men were arrested on suspicion of human smuggling but it wasn’t said how many were on board or where they were from or where they appeared to be heading.

Greece has faced ongoing criticism over its treatment of migrants. In April 2023, the Aegean Boat Report registered “57 illegal pushbacks in the Aegean Sea” by the Coast Guard, which the government denied.

The rights organization found that in that month alone, 1,711 people were “denied their right to seek asylum” and that “their human rights (were) violated by the Greek government,” noted the legal news site Jurist.

https://www.jurist.org/news/2024/08/greece-coast-guard-opens-fire-on-migrant-vessel-from-turkey-and-kills-one/

The Aegean Boat Report added that in the prior three years, Greece pushed back 58,000 migrants from Turkey in 2,167 separate cases it said violated international laws protecting refugees, but the government said that didn’t happen.

The BBC reported in June that the (Greek Coast Guard caused the death of dozens of migrants in the Mediterranean over a three-year period,” which has been claimed by human rights groups, activists and major media in other incidents.