Coast guard: forceful intervention would have caused migrant ship to sink

A Greek coast guard spokesperson has said that had an attempt been made to forcefully intervene with the vessel carrying hundreds of migrants before it sank, "the coast guard could have caused the shipwreck of the fishing vessel."

In an interview with private broadcaster SKAI, Captain Nikos Alexiou fended off criticism about the coast guard's decision not to intervene after its vessel had approached the overcrowded fishing boat and had seen that hundreds of people were crammed on to its decks.

"If any violent intervention was made on a fishing boat with people packed to the gills, we could have caused the maritime accident. If there was an intervention, there was a risk that we would cause the sinking," Alexiou said.

He denied that the coast guard was a mere observer of the fishing vessel.

"There is no such thing as simple observers who save 104 fellow...