After a ship sank with 650 migrants on board in the Mediterranean, Frontex did not broadcast a distress signal to speed up rescue operations

 After a ship sank with 650 migrants on board in the Mediterranean, Frontex did not broadcast a distress signal to speed up rescue operations

The European ombudswoman highlights the shortcomings of the coastguard agency that spotted the overloaded vessel in the Aegean Sea on June 2023. She criticizes Greece's lack of cooperation and questions the suspension of Frontex's activities.

With around 650 missing, the human toll from the sinking of the Adriana on June 14, 2023 is one of the highest in the Mediterranean in the last ten years. Setting out from the Libyan coast, this fishing boat carrying some 750 migrants sank off the Greek coast. Eight months later, while investigations are still underway in Greece into the circumstances of the sinking, the European Ombudsman, Emily O'Reilly, published a report on Wednesday February 28 on the shortcomings of Frontex, the European border and coastguard agency, in this operation.

In particular, the ombudswoman regrets that Frontex did not broadcast a "mayday" distress signal, even though one of its aircraft had observed that the boat was overcrowded and that its occupants had no life jackets. She also highlights the lack of interest shown by the Greeks in taking up Frontex's "repeated offers of assistance" that day, when they were responsible for coordinating search and rescue operations in the area.

In this respect, the ombudswoman says she is "concerned by the lack of timely and proactive cooperation and communication with Frontex" on the part of the States, which has already been documented in the past. And she questions the continued presence of the European agency in Greece. "There is a clear tension between Frontex's fundamental rights obligations and its duty to support member states in controlling border management", says O'Reilly, who refers to the possibility of suspending Frontex's activities in the event of "serious or persistent violations of fundamental rights", under article 46 of the agency's regulation.

No "serious and imminent danger

Immediately after the sinking, questions were raised about the actions of the Greek coastguard. According to survivors, rather than rendering assistance, the Greek coastguard undertook the dangerous action of towing the boat, causing the Adriana to capsize. The European Ombudsman then decided to open an investigation to clarify "how Frontex complies with its obligations". Under the law, "Member States are obliged to render assistance to any vessel or person in distress at sea", and this obligation, recalls Ms. O'Reilly, "applies to Frontex when it provides technical and operational assistance" to States, in the context, for example, of joint maritime operations.