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Greek ferry captain, 3 seamen charged over death of tardy passenger pushed into sea by crew member

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.