Shipping minister Varvitsiotis resigns in wake of shocking death of ferry passenger last week

The shipping and island policy minister in Greece, long-time New Democracy (ND) party MP Miltiades Varvitsiotis, on Monday tendered his resignation, which was accepted by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. The post has been taken over by Christos Stylianides.

In his letter of resignation, Varvitsiotis referred directly to the shocking drowning death of a 36-year-old man last week. Video footage showed two crew-members of the large Blue Horizon ferry boat pushing the victim off the vessel’s stern car ramp as it disembarked from the port of Piraeus. The latter fell into the swirling waters between the dock and the vessel, drowning only a few meters from land.

Coast guard personnel, including top officers, have also come under scrutiny for an alleged lack of supervision of the vessel’s safe departure, failure of the vessel to stop and render assistance to a person overboard and a sluggish reaction to numerous calls by passengers aboard the ferry citing the incident. A prosecutor ordered the ferry boat to return to Piraeus some 50 minutes after it had sailed for Irakleio, Crete.

Varvitsiotis, who has held other ministerial portfolios in previous conservative governments, came under sharp criticism after the fatal incident for statements deemed as insensitive.

Among others, the now ex-minister wrote that “…over the last few days… I have become the target of an attack that’s acquiring more and more toxic features. A statement of mine, which was easily misinterpreted, caused outrage. I immediately apologized sincerely. In no way did I equate the victim with the perpetrators. In no way did I wash away the responsibilities that the ship-owning company has, and which it still refuses to assume.”