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Two years since the tragic shipwreck off the coast of Pylos, UNHCR and IOM call for accountability and remembrance

Press releases

Two years since the tragic shipwreck off the coast of Pylos, UNHCR and IOM call for accountability and remembrance

Joint UNHCR/IOM Press Release
16 June 2025
Waves in the ocean

On 14 June 2023, one of the deadliest shipwrecks in the Mediterranean in recent memory claimed the lives of some 650 refugees and migrants when a fishing trawler capsized off the coast of Pylos, Greece. Two years later, hundreds remain missing and their families still await answers.

This tragedy – and the profound pain it left behind – must not be forgotten.

In the early hours of that day, the vessel Adriana sank in international waters within Greece’s search and rescue region. Of the some 750 people on board, only 104 survived.

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) welcome the progress made in the ongoing investigation, and reiterate the need to establish the facts and for the judicial process to conclude timely, to ensure that those responsible are held accountable.

Too many individuals fleeing conflict or persecution feel compelled to embark on perilous journeys, using overcrowded or unseaworthy vessels, and further risking their lives. The Pylos shipwreck stands as a stark reminder of the human cost of inaction.

While arrivals to Europe have declined since 2024, the numbers of lives lost at sea remain high. At least 3,500 people were reported dead or missing on maritime routes to Spain, Italy, Malta, Greece and Cyprus last year. The real toll is likely much higher. Μοst recently, in April 2025, a shipwreck in north Lesvos claimed the lives of eight people, including four children, renewing the call for urgent and coordinated action and strengthened safe pathways.

As conflicts persist, humanitarian needs grow, and global solidarity together with funding for humanitarian aid wane, many more people will risk their lives in perilous journeys. We must not grow numb to these tragedies.