Greek coast guards open fire on migrant smuggling boat after alleged ramming attempt, killing 1 man

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — The crew of a Greek coast guard vessel opened fire on a speedboat smuggling migrants from neighboring Turkey, killing one man, Greek authorities said Friday.

A coast guard statement said the shot was fired after the speedboat’s helmsman tried to ram the Greek patrol boat in a bid to escape arrest.

The remaining 13 migrants on the speedboat were unharmed and were taken to the southeast Aegean Sea island of Symi.

The statement said the incident occurred northwest of Symi after the helmsman of the smuggling boat repeatedly ignored instructions to stop. It said he “carried out dangerous maneuvers, directly endangering — by an attempted ramming — the crew” of the Greek boat.

It was unclear whether the dead man had been steering the migrant smuggling vessel, which the coast guard said had been heading from the nearby Turkish coast to Symi.

Police did not say whether they had made any arrests of suspected smugglers.

Thousands of migrants try to reach Greece’s eastern Aegean islands in small boats every year. In most cases they pay smuggling rings to carry them across, and in several incidents the Greek coast guard has reported attempted rammings by smugglers seeking to escape arrest.

According to data from the United Nations refugee agency, nearly 30,000 migrants have arrived illegally in Greece so far this year from Turkey, and, increasingly, from Libya in North Africa.

The number of arrivals is slightly lower than in Italy and Spain, the main destinations for migrants trying to reach Europe illegally. Most people heading for Greece are Afghan, Syrian or Egyptian nationals.

___ Follow AP coverage at: https://apnews.com/hub/migration