Blue Horizon: The captain and 3 other crew remanded in custody for the murder of Antonis

The pre-trial detention of the captain and three other crew members of the Blue Horizon for the murder of 36-year-old Antonis Karyotis in the port of Piraeus was decided early on Monday by an investigator and a prosecutor after long hours of testimony.

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

On the contrary, the investigator and the prosecutor disagreed on whether or not to pre-trial detention for the lieutenant and the captain. Thus, the final decisipushininto,aton will be taken by the judicial council.

According to ERT, the investigator decided that these two members of the Attica Group’s Blue Horizon crew should be released, a judgment with which the prosecutor disagreed.

The delay in the completion of the procedure was caused by the fact that the lieutenant was hospitalised at the Thriasio hospital with an ischemic episode, and the investigator had to go there to receive his testimony.

The captain of the Blue Horizon submitted a statement to the investigator, declaring that he was devastated by the untimely death of the 36-year-old Antonis. He also claimed that he took all the prescribed actions as soon as he was informed about the incident at the ramp.

However, not only did they throw the unfortunate Antonis into the sea, but afterwards, the ship did not hold the engines to start a rescue operation, something unprecedented in maritime history. By not stopping the engine, there were violations of maritime law since, according to international regulations and customary law.

In addition to prosecuting four crew members, the Piraeus District Attorney ordered an urgent criminal investigation by the Prosecutor’s Office into the responsibilities of the Coast Guard to establish whether its representative was at the scene as he should have been to prevent the tragedy and what he did when the ship sailed leaving the 36-year-old helpless.

For the abandonment of 36-year-old Antonis in the sea, resulting in his drowning, as admitted by the ship’s owning company, Attica Group, “At the time he gave the order to sail, there was no incident on the ramp.”

“Afterwards, a man was caught falling into the sea by the Bridge camera. The master’s assessment and decision were also wrong and completely contradicted the training he has received and regular maritime practice,” the company added.

Apart from the captain, all involved crew members had visual contact with the incident.

As for the prohibition of the victim’s entry to the ship, it was done by the decision of the Captain, and as the company claims, “it was done for security reasons, as the ship was in the process of leaving and boarding had been completed.”

In the same announcement, the company accepts, however, that “his violent repulsion is not justified under any circumstances and for any reason.”

To the ramp, and while the ship was already in motion, they had to let him pass and not push him towards where he was moving, i.e., to the ramp that had begun to rise. Authorities are investigating why the two crew members were obsessed with getting the passenger off.

The mistake was made from the beginning.

According to insiders, from the moment the passenger boarded, the captain was to start the ship if the ramp had first been secured. This is non-compliance with article 22 of PD 177/2000, which in paragraph 11 states that “the securing of the ramp and the safety door must be done before the ship sails under the captain’s responsibility”.

Also evident in the video that captured the incident is the absence of the port authorities near the ship, as provided by article 14 of the ministerial decree, which states that the duties of the port police are “to take the appropriate measures during the boarding and departure of passenger ships…to ensure the smooth and safe movement of passengers and vehicles in the onshore port areas and boarding/disembarking”.