The EU's border agency Frontex has defended its position of not issuing an alert on an overcrowded fishing vessel that sank off the Greek coast last year, which claimed over 600 lives.
"The simple fact that it is crowded does not qualify it as a distress case," said Hans Leijtens, the agency's director on Tuesday (5 March), in the context of last June's Pylos shipwreck off the Greek coast.
The statement comes despite Frontex receiving earlier reports from Italy that 750 people wit...
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Already a member? Login hereNikolaj joined EUobserver in 2012 and covers home affairs. He is originally from Denmark, but spent much of his life in France and in Belgium. He was awarded the King Baudouin Foundation grant for investigative journalism in 2010.
Nikolaj joined EUobserver in 2012 and covers home affairs. He is originally from Denmark, but spent much of his life in France and in Belgium. He was awarded the King Baudouin Foundation grant for investigative journalism in 2010.