In a statement issued on Thursday, the party said its secretary, Gabriel Sakellaridis, and the Athens A MP Nasos Iliopoulos visited Chios following the shipwreck, in which at least 15 refugees are reported to have died. According to the party, an injured survivor they met at Chios Hospital said the refugee boat was travelling slowly and was very close to the coast when, without any Coast Guard signal to stop, a Coast Guard boat passed over them.
Sakellaridis and Iliopoulos also urged that no injured person be transferred from hospital to detention facilities, and that families not be separated, insisting that ‘under no circumstances should parents be separated from their children’.
During their visit, they met representatives of hospital staff, the hospital administration and the Chios Port Authority, requesting detailed information about the circumstances of the incident. The party said an interpreter was provided after consultations with the hospital commander, allowing its representatives to speak with the injured.
‘What was recorded there raises very serious questions,’ the statement said. It added that hospital staff had indicated that the survivors’ injuries did not match the narrative so far presented by the Coast Guard and the government.
‘The government has a heavy political responsibility,’ the New Left said. ‘This is not the first time that human lives have been lost in the Aegean and it is quick to offer convenient explanations. As the New Left, we demand clear answers and will not allow any attempt at a cover-up.’
The claims echoed reporting by The Press Project, which said health sources in Chios who had come into contact with survivors were told that ‘the Coast Guard boat ran over us’. The same sources reportedly said the severity of the injuries did not support the official version.
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