Turkish ship carrying Afghan migrants towed to Greek port

The Murat 729, carrying 400 mostly Afghan migrants and refugees, sent a distress signal after its engines failed. Turkey failed to respond to a request to take back the vessel, despite a 2016 EU deal worth billions.

Greek Merchant Marine Minister Giannis Plakiotakis said Saturday that the ship set sail “obviously with the knowledge of the Turkish coast guard” and that Ankara had “once again failed to comply with its responsibilities toward the European Union.”

At the height of the European migrant crisis in 2016, Turkey signed a deal with the EU to sharply reduce the flow of migrants through its territory to EU countries in return for billions of euros