Exactly one year ago, at 16:53 CEST on 13 June 2023, we alerted the Greek Port Authorities to a vessel in distress off the coast of Pylos in Greece. There were more than 700 people on this overloaded vessel which bore the name “Andriana”. All could have been saved. All of these people could still be alive today. But most of them were not saved. Most of them are no longer alive.

At the end of the e-mail we sent to the authorities, we wrote: “Help urgently requested.” This call for help went unanswered. The Adriana sank and most of its passengers drowned in front of the Greek Coast Guard, about 10 hours after the emergency alert was sent. Over 600 people are estimated to have lost their lives. This wreck was no accident. It was a massacre, it was a state crime.

Today, one year later, we remember all those who lost their lives and fight for those who are still alive. We mourn the dead people and continue to fight for the right to free movement for all! We condemn the criminalization of the nine survivors who were imprisoned by the Greek authorities and acquitted only a few weeks ago. And we support the requests of relatives for proper assistance in the search for the bodies of their loved ones. This is necessary for them to find some peace having experienced such horror.

With several hundred people missing when the Adriana sank, there are thousands in many different countries searching for them, seeking answers and justice. But the European border regime that killed them does not provide answers. We have remained in contact with some of the relatives of the people who disappeared on June 14, 2023. We are trying to support them in their search and coping with their loss. We are also trying to draw attention to the ongoing mass killings committed by the European Union at its external borders. Some of the relatives told us that to this day, their greatest need is help in the search for the bodies – a need that the Greek authorities are ignoring. Behind every person who loses their life while migrating, there is a story. There are siblings, a neighborhood, a partner, a colleague, parents and friends, who are looking for them, mourning their death, trying to keep their loved ones alive in memory.

These countless deaths are preventable. Unfortunately, however, they are a logical consequence of the brutal border regime established by the Greek government and the EU. recent years. Pushbacks, brutal attacks at sea and increasing criminalization of those crossing the border are forcing people to board unfit vessels en masse. They often try not to be noticed/perceived, as for people on the move, an encounter with the Greek Coast Guard, the Greek Police or the Greek Border Guard often means violence and torture. As Alarm Phone, we have recorded countless incidents of push-backs in the Eastern Mediterranean, carried out or coordinated by the Greek or other border guards. People who move know that they should travel as far as they can to increase their chances of avoiding pushbacks or pushbacks by proxy.

While the Greek government continues to blame survivors and intensify the criminalization of solidarity actions like the Aegean Boat Report, the violence on the Greek border continues. Just last week Alarm Phone contacted several different groups in the Evros area who reported violent attacks. Moreover, pushbacks into the Aegean continue to take place systematically – they became less visible after the Pylos massacre, but never stopped.

While survivors and relatives fight for justice and against criminalization, the real crimes and the war on immigration and people on the move continue. As Alarm Phone, we continue to fight against deaths at sea, against border violence and against the global regime of immigration apartheid. We are fighting for a world without borders and for freedom of movement for all!