The Coast Guard could have caused the wreck of the fishing vessel if he had intervened while it was sailing normally and in good weather, told Sky and the Misfits, Coast Guard spokesman Cmdr. Nikos Alexiou. In response to the criticisms that have begun to be strongly expressed, why did the Coast Guard not intervene when its boats had approached the fishing vessel and had seen that hundreds of people were piled on its decksMr. Alexiou argued that if there was any violent intervention, on a fishing boat with people loaded to its gills and reefs, we could have caused the shipwreck. If there was an operation, there was a risk that we would cause the wreck.”

Mr. Alexiou added that the Coast Guard was not a simple observer in the course of the fishing vessel: Simple observers saving 104 fellow humans, does not exist. We were there trying to get them to get help, they didn’t realize the danger, good weather conditionsthey were sailing normally”.

When asked if the shipwreck could have been avoided, Mr. Alexiou said that ten minutes before sinking he lost his engine, if that hadn’t happened, they probably wouldn’t have moved. We didn’t have to deal with arms or drug dealers, violent intervention on a vessel with so many people we would have had cargo shift and had the wreck. We stayed by if we were needed to save people, and that’s what we did. “We were notified by the Italian coast guard about the existence of the vessel, we did what we had to do, the vessel was located, it was approached by trucks, they took from a supply, they then refused. Later our boat arrived, a 25-30 meter boat that declared that they did not want rescue, they did not want to come to Greece. Seeing the situation, we didn’t leave, we didn’t release him, in the morning he lost his bike, people moved, lost center of gravity and overturned.’

The Coast Guard spokesman said that no arrests of traffickers yethowever some are being considered as suspects and the examination process is ongoingwhile search and rescue efforts are ongoing.

However, speaking afterwards to the Incongruous, SYRIZA MP candidate Yiannis Mouzalas argued that the Coast Guard should have intervened before the wreckin the logic of the rescue operation, a view that was not shared, saying that the Coast Guard acted appropriatelythe ND parliamentary candidate, Dimitris Avramopoulos.