Greek ferry captain, 3 seamen face homicide charges in death of pushed passenger

ATHENS, Greece -- A Greek prosecutor brought criminal charges Wednesday against an island ferry captain and three of his crew over the death of a tardy passenger whom a crew member pushed into the sea as he tried to board the departing vessel in Greece's main port of Piraeus.

One crew member was charged with homicide with possible intent, and the other two with complicity, while the captain was charged with severe breaches of shipping regulations, state-run ERT television reported.

Greece’s minister for merchant marine, Miltiadis Varvitsiotis, expressed “shock, horror and sorrow” at the incident, and identified the victim as Andonis Kargiotis, 36.

The incident late Tuesday, captured on a video and shared on social media, sparked anger across the maritime country. It showed the passenger running onto the Blue Horizon ferry’s loading ramp, which was still down and in place on the quay, as the ship had cast off its moorings and was about to leave. He tried to push past two crew members on the ramp who stopped him and manhandled him onto the quay.

When the man once again stepped onto the ramp, one crew member stopped him and pushed him off as the ferry was departing. He vanished into the growing gap between the vessel and the quay, as the water was violently churned by the ship’s powerful screws.

The crew appeared to do nothing to help him, and the ferry continued sailing towards the island of Crete before being ordered back to Piraeus.

The coast guard said the man was recovered unconscious from the harbor waters and later pronounced dead. An autopsy determined drowning as the cause of death.

In a social media posting Wednesday, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis deplored what he called “a combination of irresponsible behavior and cynicism, contempt and indifference” that led to the man's death. “Yesterday's shameful incident is not indicative of the kind of country we want,” he added.

Varvitsiotis condemned the crew members for their “illegal acts” and their failure to follow “the basic principle that Greek seamen have honored for centuries" which is to rescue people at sea and "not to throw them into it, particularly in such circumstances,” the minister added in a statement.

He said Kargiotis had a ticket and had boarded the ship shortly earlier, dashed out for unclear reasons and then tried to reboard. Varvitsiotis also said he ordered an investigation into how port police responded to the incident.

Attica Group, which owns the Blue Horizon, initially issued a brief statement saying it was “devastated by the tragic incident” and would cooperate with the authorities.

In a longer statement several hours later, it expressed sorrow for Kargiotis' death and pledged an investigation into the “unthinkable” incident.

Small protests over the incident were held late Wednesday in Piraeus and the port of Heraklion on Crete.

Piraeus is Greece's biggest port and the main gateway for millions of travelers visiting the country's Aegean Sea islands and Crete every year.