Clarifications regarding the initial announcement, which referred to injuries only and not to the deaths of members of the Greek humanitarian mission in Libya, are provided by the GHET.

In detail, the GEETHA clarifies: “The initial information was based on the information provided by the Libyan authorities to the competent Greek authorities, in which it was categorically stated that there were no victims among the members of the Greek humanitarian aid mission.

It is understandable that in the special conditions that prevailed on the field there was no other way of cross-referencing the relevant information, other than the information from the Libyan authorities through the diplomatic channel, given that there was no mobile phone network in the area and the satellite phones that came with it the Greek mission were destroyed in the fire that followed the collision of the vehicles.

Later, the Libyan authorities, through the Ministry of Health, without prior information from the Greek side, made a statement that included members of the Greek mission among the victims.

Considering the extremely sensitive issue of informing the families of the victims, the UNHRC should also have waited after the latest update from Libya and before issuing a corrective statement, for their relatives to be notified in advance by the military authorities and not be informed of the sad news by the mass media. As soon as the relevant information was completed, the new announcement was issued.”