A Cretan ferry passenger was drowned on Tuesday evening while trying to board a Blue Star ferry as it was leaving the port of Piraeus for Heraklion. Thirty-six-year-old Antonis Kargiotis from Agios Nikolaos was trying to board the ferry Blue Horizon when he was pushed from the ship’s ramp and fell into the sea, where he drowned. A mobile phone video of the event, published by the newspaper Proto Thema, was uploaded to social media and rapidly went viral, provoking widespread condemnation from the public and the authorities.

The circumstances of the event remain unclear. It was reported that Mr Kargiotis had earlier boarded the ferry with a valid ticket, but at the last moment had gone ashore again for an unknown reason. He then tried to reboard the ship as the ship sat with its engines running and the ramp about to be raised. At first he succeeded in getting onto the ramp but was pushed ashore by two crew members standing on the ramp while a third watched. When he tried again they pushed him off again but by this time the ship had started to move away from the quay and he fell into the water where he drowned. Despite shouts from the passengers, the ship continued on its way as if nothing had happened, but later returned to the quay, where the captain and the three crew members were arrested. The ship later left for Heraklion with a different crew.

Public reactions
There were public demonstrations against the incident the following day. At the port of Heraklion, hundreds of demonstrators prevented the departure of the Blue Horizon for Piraeus on Wednesday evening and there were other demonstrations at Piraeus and the victim’s home town of Agios Nikolaos. On Thursday evening there was a further demonstration at the port of Souda, where protesters managed to force their way into the restricted area and occupy the ramps of the ferry Eleftherios Venizelos for some two and a half hours.

The Attica Group, which owns Blue Star Ferries, issued a statement on Wednesday in which it said: “The scenes which we all saw yesterday evening are incomprehensible, they are incompatible with the Group’s values and do not in any way express the ethics and the professionalism either of our crews or of the Greek shipping industry as a whole.” It later announced that the Blue Horizon was being withdrawn from the Piraeus-Crete route, while on Thursday the CEO of Attica Group Spiros Paschalis announced his resignation. The company offered its sincere condolences to the victim’s family and friends and promised to stand by the family in every way possible. It also undertook to conduct an independent enquiry into the incident.

Following the incident, the Coast Guard stated that the victim was recovered unconscious from the harbour waters and later pronounced dead. Initial results from the post mortem examination showed that the cause of death was “drowning in seawater”. He also suffered some abrasions to the head, possibly caused by his fall from the ramp. The results of a toxicology examination are pending.

The members of the ferry crew who had been arrested were taken before a prosecutor on Wednesday. The crew member who allegedly pushed the passenger was charged with “manslaughter with possible malice”, while the other two crew members were charged with complicity in manslaughter. The captain faces charges of “dangerous interference with maritime traffic”, which is also a criminal offence.

A failure in procedures
The event brought to light failures in established procedures, not only by the ferry crew but also by the port personnel. While the crew were initially following procedure by denying access to a passenger once the departure had been initiated, it is clear that once the ship was in motion they should have taken him on board for safety. As soon as the victim had fallen in the water, the captain should have immediately cut the ship’s engines rather than proceeding with the departure. In addition, port procedures required that the ship’s engines should not be started until the ramp was raised, and a port official who should have been on the quay to ensure that departure procedures were carried out correctly, was not present.

After receiving the initial findings on the incident, the minister for Shipping and Island Policy Miltiadis Varvitsiotis ordered the head of the Port Authority-Hellenic Coastguard to place under immediate disciplinary examination four personnel of the Central Port Authority of Piraeus which the report held responsible for the incident, and ordered the removal of the Central Port Harbourmaster for Piraeus and the head of the 1st Section of the Central Port Authority from their posts. He also ordered the return to Piraeus of Port Authority-Coastguard personnel who had been enagaged in duties with the ministry for Shipping and Island Policy, to improve monitoring and policing at what is the largest port in the country.

The victim’s background
Following the incident, reports in the local media provided a picture of the circumstances of the victim. Part of a family of ten who had just lost their mother, Antonis Kargiotis lived with two of his sisters in Agios Nikolas, where he led a hand-to-mouth-existence, relying on odd jobs to earn a living. As reported by Daynight.gr, his brother described him as someone who was liked by everyone in Agios Nikolaos: “He was a kid who helped everyone. He didn’t have a steady job, he hadn’t learned a trade, he hadn’t studied, but he loved everyone and helped them.” He was reported as travelling often to Athens to visit friends, but also to collect a disability pension every six months.

It also appeared that he had some psychological problems. Speaking to the radio station 98.4, the psychiatrist in charge of the Lasithi Mobile Mental Health Unit, Manolis Kanavakis, described him as a “good kid” who did no harm to anyone, and who liked travelling. Because of this the service had asked the Port Authority to look out for Antonis and inform the ferry crews about him, in case some accident should befall him. Indeed it appeared that he was known to the Port Authority in Heraklion and to most of the ferry crews. In this case the reverse had happened, a fact that the psychiatrist attributed to the feelings of superiority which people may have for those whom they perceive as being at a lower level than themselves.

Mr Kargiotis’s body was brought to the island on Friday morning, 8th September, and his funeral took place at the Evangelistria Church in Agios Nikolaos at 12 noon on the same day. The funeral, which was conducted at public expense, was presided over by Metropolitan Gerasimos of Petra and Hersonissos. Among those attending were the minister for Social Cohesion and Family Sofia Zacharaki, the MP for Lasithi and former minister for Shipping and Island Policy Ioannis Plakiotakis, the leader of PASOK-Movement for Change Nikos Androulakis, the PASOK MP for Lasithi Katerina Spyridaki and the mayor of Agios Nikolaos Antonis Zervos.
(Sources: Haniotika Nea, Greekreporter.com, Daynight.gr, and others)