Coast guard

A recent coast guard investigation into migrant trafficking has led to the unveiling of yet another espionage network involving more than 15 suspects, Kathimerini has learned.

Four of the suspects, which include Greek, Turkish and Lebanese nationals, were allegedly gathering information on the movement of Hellenic Navy and Coast Guard vessels, and sharing it with people in Turkey.

Greek Migration Minister Notis Mitarakis on Friday sent a letter to European Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson and UNHCR Representative in Greece Philippe Leclerc on a migrant boat wreck that claimed the lives of two women on Thursday.

The Minister said the information was based on some of the survivors’ testimonies after being rescued by the Greek coast guard

Turkey's coast guard did not respond to a distress signal sent out by a dinghy carrying migrants in the Aegean Sea Wednesday, Greek Migration Minister Notis Mitarakis has said.

A search and rescue operation has been launched in the eastern Aegean Sea after a dinghy carrying migrants either sank or overturned off the Greek island of Lesvos, the Greek coast guard said Wednesday.

At least 32 migrants have been rescued from a boat off the Greek island of Lesvos since the incident was first reported on Wednesday morning, authorities said.

The operation, east of the Aegean island close to Turkey, was still in progress.

A speedboat that appeared to have been smuggling migrants to the Greek island of Rhodes from nearby Turkey partially sank before reaching land, leaving one person dead, Greece's coast guard said on Monday.

Greece has rejected allegations of conducting pushback operations against migrant vessels seeking to reach its territory from Turkey via the Aegean Sea.
"The Greek coast guard always operates in accordance with the principles of international law," Shipping Minister Ioannis Plakiotakis said during a press conference on Wednesday.

Officials in Athens are trying to make sense of what they see as erratic behavior emanating from Ankara, which on the one hand is requesting a moratorium on military exercises in the Aegean due to the coronavirus pandemic, and on the other is continuing its tactic of low-level tensions regarding the Greek islands.

Greek authorities said Wednesday they have thwarted an attempt by Turkish coast guard vessels to escort a boat carrying migrants into Greek waters off the eastern Aegean Sea island of Lesvos.