EU must ensure probe of Greece migrant boat disaster, IRC says as hundreds remain missing

The European Union must investigate last month’s boat capsize off the coast of Greece that has likely cost the lives of hundreds of migrants, the International Rescue Committee said Wednesday.

More than 100 migrants died when the overloaded fishing boat they were travelling on capsized and sank in the Ionian Sea on 14 June. Weeks after the disaster, the death toll remains unclear as hundreds of people are still missing.

Despite calls by NGOs and members of the European Parliament for a full investigation, a probe has yet to be launched — a fact the IRC’s Senior Vice President for Europe, Harlem Desir called "deeply shameful".

The migrants aboard the boat had departed from Libya towards Italy. About 750 men, women and children were said to be onboard the fishing boat before it capsized.

The survivors are mainly from Syria, Egypt and Pakistan.

A number of survivors have said that the Greek coastguard caused the disaster, as it was towing the vessel when it capsized.

The Greek coastguard denied it had been towing the boat at the time of the capsize.

Deaths of migrants crossing the Mediterranean are far from rare. There have been more than 20 incidents in which more than 50 migrants have died or gone missing while crossing the Mediterranean this year alone, according to the UN.

The IRC said it was calling on the EU to ensure a "full, transparent investigation" that specifically looks at the role of EU member states and the EU’s border agency Frontex in the tragedy.

"Rather than focusing on stopping people from reaching its territory, we urge the EU to shift its efforts towards improving rights and conditions for people on the move, better supporting state-led search and rescue operations, and expanding safe routes to Europe so people are not forced to risk their lives on these treacherous journeys in the first place," the IRC’s Desir said.

More than 2,000 people have died or gone missing this year en route to Europe via the Mediterranean and the east of the Atlantic Ocean, according to the UN’s displacement tracking matrix. 

Almost 3,000 people died or went missing on the same routes last year.