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☆ Wildfires Imperil Greek Isle of Rhodes, Forcing Big Relocation
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-22 | by ( Niki Kitsantonis | More About Niki Kitsantonis | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Greek Coast Guard vessels on Saturday evacuated hundreds of tourists and locals trapped in seaside villages on Rhodes that were threatened by five-day-old wildfires, moving them to safer parts of the island. A Greek Navy warship was en route to join the five Greek Coast Guard vessels and two army boats that were being aided by 30 private vessels in the area, according to a Coast Guard statement. A Coast Guard spokesman, Nikos Alexiou, said around 2,000 people had been evacuated by sea from southeastern Rhodes. “Most have been rescued but the operation is continuing,” he told Greek television, adding that Coast Guard boats were patrolling the area, along with a helicopter. Thousands more people on Rhodes were evacuated over land to other parts of the island.

Persons: Nikos Alexiou, “, ”, George Hatzimarkos Organizations: Guard, Greek Navy, Greek Coast Guard, Coast Guard Locations: Rhodes

☆ Rhodes wildfire forces mass evacuations
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

He said an operation was ongoing to evacuate about 600 people from beaches in Kiotari and Gennadi towards Plimmiri. Firefighters, backed by air water bombers and reinforcements by Slovakia, struggled with new outbreaks of the wildfire, which was fanned by strong winds. [1/18]A wildfire burns in a forest near Lardos, on the island of Rhodes, Greece, July 22, 2023. It damaged at least three hotels in the seaside village of Kiotari on Saturday, according to the Athens News Agency. Fires are common in Greece but hotter, drier and windy summers have turned the country into a wildfire hotspot in recent years.

Persons: Nikos Alexiou, Vassilis Vathrakogiannis, Konstantinos Taraslias, Rhodes, Taraslias, Angeliki Koutantou, Frances Kerry, Mike Harrison, Daniel Wallis Organizations: Coastguard, coastguard, Authorities, Firefighters, REUTERS, Athens News Agency, Thomson Locations: ATHENS, Rhodes, Kiotari, Plimmiri, Pefki, Slovakia, Lardos, Greece, Laerma

☆ Greek migrant boat tragedy: CNN investigation raises questions about coast guard's account of shipwreck
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-23 | by ( Florence Davey-Attlee Elinda Labropoulou Jomana Karadsheh Gianluca Mezzofiore Katie Polglase | Florence Davey-Attlee | Elinda Labropoulou | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

They also call into question the Greek coast guard’s version of events, suggesting more lives could have been saved, and may even point to fault on the part of Greek authorities. The Hellenic Coast Guard has declined to answer CNN’s specific requests for response to the survivor testimonies. The Greek coast guard has maintained that people onboard the trawler had refused rescue and insisted they wanted to continue their journey to Italy. The haunting final words sent from the migrant boat came just minutes before it capsized. Most of all, Mostafa says, he wishes the Greek coast guard had never approached their boat: “If they had left us be, we wouldn’t have drowned.”

Persons: “, Rami, ”, Mostafa, Nikos Alexiou, Byron Smith, ” Rami, Lucky, –, ” Mostafa, Nawal Soufi, …, superyacht, Stringer, Eurokinissi, Vincent Cochetel, Stelios Misinas, Reuters Cochetel, ” Omer Shatz, Mohammad, Fadi, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Mitsotakis Organizations: CNN, Hellenic Coast Guard, Reuters CNN, Cross, UNHCR, European Union, “, Getty, ” Workers, Reuters, Center for Constitutional, Human Locations: Greece, Syria, Greek, Coast, Athens, Tobruk, Libya, Italy, Kalamata, AFP, Berlin, Netherlands, Sunday’s, Europe

ATHENS — Shortly after a rickety fishing boat carrying hundreds of smuggled migrants sank in front of a Greek Coast Guard vessel last week, Greek officials explained that they had not intervened because the smugglers didn’t want them to. Intervening also would have been dangerous, Coast Guard spokesman Nikos Alexiou has said, given that the ship was overcrowded and filled with migrants intent on reaching Italy. Trying to “violently stop its course” without cooperation from the crew or passengers could have provoked a “maritime accident,” Mr. Alexiou said. He added that even though the ship was in Greece’s search and rescue territory, “you can’t intervene in international waters against a boat that is not engaged in smuggling or some other crime.”Mr. Alexiou apparently meant smuggling drugs or guns, not people. But in the aftermath of the deadliest shipwreck in Greece in a decade, and perhaps ever, with possibly more than 700 men, women and children from Syria, Pakistan and Egypt drowned, the decision not to intervene has raised concerns that an alignment of interests between smugglers paid to reach Italy and Greek authorities who would rather the migrants be Italy’s problem led to an avoidable catastrophe.

Persons: Nikos Alexiou, Mr, Alexiou Organizations: Greek Coast Guard, Coast Guard Locations: ATHENS, Italy, Greece, Syria, Pakistan, Egypt

☆ Emotional reunion amid despair as Greece searches for shipwreck survivors
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-16 | by ( Lefteris Papadimas | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

In the immediate aftermath of the disaster 104 survivors and 78 people who drowned were brought to shore by Greek authorities, but nothing has been found since. They wept and hugged through metal barricades, erected by Greek police around a warehouse in Kalamata where survivors had been sleeping for the past two days. Survivors who spoke to Greek authorities said they paid $4,500 each to go to Italy. The group, Alarm Phone, said it had alerted Greek authorities and aid agencies hours before the disaster unfolded. Greek authorities denied accounts that surfaced late on Thursday that the boat flipped after the coastguard attempted to tow it.

Persons: Mohammad, Fadi, Fedi, Stelios Misinas, Nikos Alexiou, Renee Maltezou, Michele Kambas, Alex Richardson Organizations: Reuters, REUTERS, Greek coastguard, coastguard, ERT, Authorities, Thomson Locations: Greece, Syrian, KALAMATA, Greek, Kalamata, Pylos, Syria, Netherlands, Italy, Egypt, Tobruk, Malakasa, Athens

☆ Greece hunts for survivors of migrant shipwreck
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

KALAMATA, Greece, June 15 (Reuters) - Rescuers were scouring the seas off Greece on Thursday in a massive search operation as hopes dwindled for survivors of a shipwreck that killed at least 79 people, in one of Europe's deadliest such disasters in recent years. As dawn broke on Thursday, a coast guard vessel sailed into the nearby port city of Kalamata, transferring victims of the year's deadliest shipwreck off Greece. [1/3] Men transfer body bags carrying migrants who died after their boat capsized in the open sea off Greece, onboard a Hellenic Coast Guard vessel at the port of Kalamata, Greece, June 15, 2023. Aerial pictures released by the Greek coast guard showed dozens of people on the boat's upper and lower decks looking up, some with arms outstretched, hours before it sank. Greece is one of the main routes into the European Union for refugees and migrants from the Middle East, Asia and Africa.

Persons: Nikos Alexiou, Stelios Misinas, Stamos Prousalis, Michele Kambas, Clarence Fernandez Organizations: Authorities, Organization for Migration, Skai, Hellenic Coast Guard, REUTERS, European Union, NATO, United Nations, Thomson Locations: KALAMATA, Greece, Pylos, Kalamata, Tobruk, Italy, East, Asia, Africa, Libya, Europe

At least 78 people died when the fishing vessel flipped and capsized in international waters south-west of Greece early on Wednesday. A migrant charity says a person they were in contact with on the boat said it was in distress, but Greek authorities say it repeatedly refused offers of help. Passengers paid $4,500 for passage to Italy, the two Greek sources said. Aerial photos of the vessel taken by the Greek coastguard hours before the tragedy unfolded showed a vessel crammed with people on its exposed decks. When the boat reported engine failure and stalled, a coastguard vessel shadowing them came closer.

Persons: Stelios Misinas, Nikos Alexiou, Adriana Tidona, Tidona, Karolina Tagaris, Michele Kambas, Alex Richardson Organizations: Hellenic Coast Guard, REUTERS, Greek coastguard, . Authorities, Greece's coastguard, EU, Amnesty International, coastguard, Thomson Locations: Greece, Kalamata, Stelios Misinas KALAMATA, LIBYA, Tobruk, Libya, Italy

☆ Greece scours shipwreck site; hundreds feared drowned in boat's hold
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-15 | by ( Stamos Prousalis | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

"When you are faced with such a situation... you need to be very careful in your actions," coast guard spokesperson Nikos Alexiou told state broadcaster ERT. Citing initial testimonies from survivors, Save the Children charity said around 100 children were believed to be in the vessel's hold. Of the 104 survivors so far transferred by the coast guard to the Greek port city of Kalamata, most were men, authorities said. The search operation will continue for as long as needed, the coast guard said. Aerial pictures released by the Greek coast guard showed dozens of people on the boat's upper and lower decks looking up, some with arms outstretched, hours before it sank.

Persons: Nikos Alexiou, Daniel Gorevan, Stelios Misinas, Nawal Soufi, Lefteris Papadimas, Renee Maltezou, Karolina Tagaris, Angelo Amante, Michele Kambas, John Stonestreet, Hugh Lawson Organizations: Rescuers, ERT, Organization for Migration, EU, Hellenic Coast Guard, REUTERS, Independent, European Union, NATO, United Nations, Thomson Locations: KALAMATA, Greece, Pylos, Italy, Europe, Kalamata, Athens, Tobruk, East, Asia, Africa, Libya, Lefteris, Rome

Kalamata, Greece CNN —A boat that sank killing dozens of people was caused by a “sudden” shift in weight, Greek authorities said Thursday, in one of the largest-scale migrant vessel disasters in southern Europe this year. “A sudden shift in weight is likely to be the cause of what led the boat to capsize and then sink,” Hellenic Coast Guard spokesman Nikos Alexiou told CNN on Thursday. A migrant vessel pictured by the Greek coast guard on June 13 sank in the Mediterranean on Wednesday. From their accounts there seem to have been women and children on board,” he told CNN while helping survivors on the ground. “These people had not eaten for many days, had not drunk water for many days, were burnt by the sun,” the Greek Rescue Team member told CNN affiliate CNN Greece.

Persons: Greece CNN —, Nikos Alexiou, Thanasis Vasilopoulos, ”, “, –, ” Flavio Di Giacomo, Dimitris Chaliotis, Maria Triantou, Triantou, Frido Herinckx, ” Herinckx, Francesco Rocca, ” Rocca Organizations: Greece CNN, Hellenic Coast Guard, CNN, Rescuers, International Organization for Migration, UNHCR, ERT, NGO, Hellenic, Cross, International Federation of Red, Red Crescent Societies, Greek Rescue, CNN Greece, ” CNN Locations: Kalamata, Greece, Europe, “, East, Asia, Africa, Tobruk, Libya, Italy, ‘ State, Hypocrates, Athens

Greek authorities said it was too soon to speculate on the total number. Greek authorities said it remained unclear how many the vessel was carrying when it went under, and that 104 people had been rescued by midday. We do not know how many people were in the hold," Greek coast guard spokesperson Nikos Alexiou told Greece's MEGA TV. [1/4] Rescuers transfer a migrant to an ambulance following a rescue operation after their boat capsized at open sea, in Kalamata, Greece, June 14, 2023. Italian authorities then alerted Greece to the vessel's presence, and the Greek coast guard approached it and offered help.

Persons: Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Nikos Alexiou, Greece's, Filippo Grandi, Stelios, Mitsotakis, Stamos Prousalis, Karolina Tagaris, Lefteris Papadimas, Renee Maltezou, Gabrielle Tetrault, Farber, John Stonestreet, Mark Heinrich Our Organizations: European Union, ERT, Twitter, Greece's MEGA, Refugees, REUTERS, EU, Frontex, NATO, Wednesday, United Nations, Reuters, Thomson Locations: KALAMATA, Greece, East, Asia, Africa, Turkey, Italy, Libyan, Tobruk, Crete, Europe, Kalamata, Pylos, capsizing, Egypt, Syria, Pakistan, Athens, Libya, EU, Europe's, Geneva, Reuters Libya

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