SYRIZA for shipwreck in Kythera: «State without a plan, dead abandoned at sea»!

In a joint statement on the recent shipwreck in Kythera, a Member of the European Parliament and members of SYRIZA - Progressive Alliance made a joint statement. The statement, which speaks of «unbelievable indifference of the Government seven days after the tragic shipwreck in Kythera», was signed by:

• Kostas Arvanitis, MEP - Member of the Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee (LIBE) of the EP,
• Thodoris Dritsas, Member of Parliament for Piraeus & Islands - Member of the National Defence portfolio,
• Nektarios Santorinis, Member of Parliament of the Dodecanese - Minister of Shipping & Island Policy
• George Psychogios, Member of Parliament of Corinthia - Minister of Immigration Policy

The relevant press release states:

PUBLIC STATEMENT

for the incredible indifference of the Government, seven days after the tragic shipwreck in Kythera

• Kostas Arvanitis, Member of the European Parliament - Member of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) of the EP,
• Thodoris Kritsa, Member of Parliament for Piraeus & Islands - Minister of National Defence,
• Nektarios Santoriniou, Member of Parliament of the Dodecanese - Minister of Shipping & Island Policy
• George Psychogiou, Member of Parliament of Corinthia - Minister of Immigration Policy

«Respect the dead castaways of Kythera and their relatives»

 «The recent unspeakable tragedy of the shipwrecked refugees in Kythera has no end. Seven days after the tragic shipwreck, there are still missing persons who are being searched for with anguish by their Afghan relatives who have arrived on the island from various parts of Europe. No government agency has taken on the responsibility of officially informing and helping them. The searches have been suspended, on the bureaucratic criterion in this case that the three 24-hour period laid down in the regulations has been exceeded. Only yesterday, however, a young woman was found and recovered drowned outside Diakofti, not by state authorities, but by her Afghan brother in a Chirago fishing boat! We note that no official authority yet knows the exact number of missing persons.

Equally tragic and unbelievable is the follow-up to the process of identifying the dead shipwreck victims and returning the bodies to their relatives so that they can arrange for their burial. The bodies of the dead shipwreck victims were transferred from Kythera to Kalamata and the responsibility for their management remained with the port authorities. Without instructions, without a plan, without basic vigilance, the Government and the competent Ministries, leave the port authorities of Kythera and Kalamata to deal with the issue with non-existent capabilities and without special service expertise. Yesterday, the outrageous confusion of responsibilities between the two port authorities, Kythera and Kalamata, regarding the responsibility for issuing death certificates, even emerged. One of the port authorities is of the opinion that it cannot issue death certificates, since the bodies of the dead have left its jurisdiction. The other considers that it cannot issue certificates either, since the death did not take place in its area of responsibility. This is madness!

The relatives in complete despair, suffering unimaginably, go without result from Kythira to Kalamata and so far they get only vague and irresponsible negative answers to their request to pick up their dead. «You will probably pick them up from Athens...» they are finally told, but even this is not certain. That's how much of an executive state this government has created.

 We have to say it over and over again. If it were not for the miraculous mobilization of hundreds of citizens of the island in solidarity, including Michael Protopsaltis with his crane, rescue, care, relief and humanitarian aid would have been completely lacking. If there had not been the solidarity of the inhabitants, the tragedy would have been much greater and the dead would have been many more, since the central State had no plan, but also no willingness and almost no substantial intervention, except for the efforts of the Coast Guard, in very difficult weather conditions, and the doctors and nursing staff of the hospital. And the local government, in the first two days, remained perplexed, until it actually responded afterwards, both for the needs arising from the big wreck in Diakofti and the one that preceded it in Capsali.

Mr Mitsotakis, Mr Mitarakis, Mr Plakiotakis, Mr Plevris, Mr Tsiaras, Mr Theodoricako, Mr Voridis, Mr Varvitsiotis, Mrs Kerameos of Religious Affairs, Mrs Mendoni of Culture, would you be so inadequate and indifferent if they were European castaways?;

Mrs. von der Leyen & Mr. Schinas, is this the «European Way of Life» that you so much «promote»? With dead castaways «abandoned» at sea? Without safe passages for those who need real international protection? Are you not interested in the criminal instrumentalization of refugees & migrants and by Erdogan's Turkey that leaves them unprotected to exploiters who drive them to their deaths? The residents of the East Aegean have lived through the deadlocks and hypocrisy of your politicians for years, now it's time for Tsirigoians to experience it on their island? How much longer will refugees-migrants and our islanders continue to pay for your dead-end policies?;

At last, refugees and migrants, whether they are Ukrainian, Eastern European, African, Afghan, Bangladeshi, Pakistani, Palestinian, Syrian or Iraqi, are human beings.. We call on you to come out of your nirvana, to meet your obligations, to honour the dead, to respect their relatives and to initiate immediately the process of granting asylum to those who survived and deserve it.».