VIDEO: Greek Coast Guard pops Syrian migrant boat, Turkish fishermen claim

İZMİR - Doğan News Agency

The Greek Coast Guard allegedly popped an inflatable migrant boat en route to a Greek island in the Aegean Sea, according to claims by a group of Turkish fishermen, who shot video footage of the incident.

A Turkish fisherman said he saw officials from a Greek Coast Guard boat popping an inflatable boat carrying around 50 Syrian migrants off the Aegean province of İzmir.

The video footage shot by one of the fishermen showed a Greek boat approaching a Chios-bound inflatable Zodiac boat carrying Syrian migrants, including women and children, off İzmir’s Karaburun district.

In the footage, the Greek boat can be seen floating near the migrant boat for a few minutes before sailing away. Although an intervention from the Greek boat cannot be seen in the video footage clearly, one of the Turkish fisherman says he saw someone in the Greek boat pop the migrant boat. The Turkish fishermen approached the migrants’ boat, which was partially sunken, took aboard several migrants who had been floating in the sea, and left the area. 

İzmir has become a popular destination for Syrians willing to cross into European countries through Greek islands.