Greece is watching with bated breath the developments regarding the unprecedented crime that unfolded last night in the port of Piraeus when members of the crew of the Blue Horizon ship threw a man from the vessel, with him finding his death in the vortex of the ship’s propeller.
Four Blue Horizon ferry crew members, including the deck officer and the master, have been arrested after the videos posted on social media showed what happened. The authorities are taking testimonies from everyone while the port authority has received pre-investigative material and the relevant videos.
The ship had initially departed for Heraklion but returned to the port of Piraeus with a prosecutor’s order to take statements from the passengers and the crew.
The management of the Attica Group, which owns the ship, said he was shocked by the tragic incident in the port of Piraeus. The group also cooperates with all competent authorities to clarify the incident thoroughly.
“I express my sadness for the tragic incident in the port of Piraeus where one person lost his life. All the necessary actions are being taken by the Piraeus Port Authority to shed light on the case and assign responsibility,” Shipping Minister Miltiadis Varvitsiotis said in a post on social media.
According to the local media eKriti, there is anger, sadness and resentment over the death of the 36-year-old man when he was trying to board the ship that was leaving for the port of Heraklion.
Anger and resentment also prevail in the place of origin of 36-year-old Antonis Karyotis, Agios Nikolaos Lasithiou, where he lived in the workers’ housing with his two sisters. At the same time, he had recently lost his mother. He is a member of a family of ten.
According to Radio Crete, the unfortunate 36-year-old often travelled to Piraeus and was known to the crew.
At the same time, according to port sources of the same medium, the 36-year-old had paid a ticket in the hands of the port authorities as part of the preliminary investigation.
“It is impossible that Antonis did not have a ticket,” said his brother.
The 36-year-old came from a large family and did whatever job he could. Lately, he was working in a fruit shop. He lived with one of his brothers, who was informed of Antonis’ tragic death early in the morning.
Heartbreaking are the words of the 36-year-old’s other brother, who spoke to Creta24 about how he was informed of the tragic incident.
“The whole world loved him, all of Agios Nikolaos, which is no exaggeration. Ask anyone you want about my brother,” he said.
“My brother,” continues Nikos, “was someone who helped everyone. He didn’t have a steady job, he hadn’t learned any trade, he hadn’t studied, but he loved everyone and helped them.”
He added that his brother had gone on a trip to see his friends in Athens.
“He often travelled to Athens to see his friends. It is impossible that he did not have a ticket. Always before leaving Crete, he had bought the return ticket,” he said.
Shocking passenger of Blue Horizon An eyewitness speaks to Proto Thema about the tragedy, who saw the two men push the victim three times, causing him to fall into the water and lose his life.
As a victim said, while the 36-year-old drowned, the two crew members did not take action to save him and ordered the journey to start normally.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffuOKsakNPo
“The man was inside the ship and probably didn’t have a ticket. A guy in the white shirt and the shoulder insignia, a captain I don’t know what he is, pushed him. He made 2-3 attempts to enter the ship and they were pushing him when the vessel started to leave the dock. The ship was leaving, coming off the dock. And he kept pushing him. We were all shouting, ‘What are you doing? What are you doing.’ It was a clear that he would fall into the sea, and as a result, he finally fell,” said a passenger who told the Coast Guard about the unimaginable tragedy he saw unfolding before his eyes.
The saddening video:
Crew members of the ship #BlueHorizon are seen to push away a 36yo passenger that was late.
That led to the passenger losing his balance, falling in the sea and unfortunately, losing his life.
The incident took place tonight on the #Piraeus port, #Athens. pic.twitter.com/Y3StpNSKp8— Greek City Times (@greekcitytimes) September 6, 2023
Shocked by the incident with the two men of the Blue Horizon crew who violently pushed the 36-year-old to throw him off the catapult and the ship, witnesses even contacted the Coast Guard to report it.
Proto Thema contacted Frosso Tetrantonaki, who is aboard the ELYROS and was on the ship’s deck at the time of the incident.
“Many people on ELYROS had gone out on deck for a cigarette and saw the incident clearly. They saw people from the Blue Horizon crew pushing the man overboard. They pushed him three or four times before he went up the ship’s ramp,” said Fr. Tetrantonakis, adding that about ten minutes after falling into the sea, we saw the man’s body floating in the water .’
“At that moment, I called the Coast Guard and formally complained about the incident. They pushed the man into the sea, and he drowned. They killed him, were the words I conveyed to the port officials,” declared the witness, visibly agitated, noting that his body floated for about 30 minutes until they collected it.
The testimony was also confirmed by Vassilis Mikropoulos, who was also on F/B ELYROS and spoke to Proto Thema. “We saw everything clearly. We were fifty metres away. They pushed him and told him to leave,” he emphasised in his statements.
It should be noted that the F/B ELYROS departed with a delay for its destination due to the incident.
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