“If I had not manoeuvred, they would have sunk us”, said the captain of the Greek coastguard vessel that was rammed by the Turkish patrol boat on Monday night near then islets of Imia.

“It was a calculated attempt by the Turks to sink the Greek ship. It was not a simple harassment or obstruction of the boat that was patrolling Imia like the incident that had occurred with the gunboat Nikephoros”, a high ranking official sources from the Greek government told protothema.gr.

From the information available so far, it is believed the two Turkish coastguard ships had set a deliberate trap to ambush the Greek vessel, which is considered the flagship of the Greek coastguard, code-named “090”.

The revelation that two Turkish patrol boats, with sources saying they possessed features that only larger vessels could have, and their attempts to effectively ram and sink the Greek boat, has caused serious concern to the Greek government.

Meanwhile, photos of the damaged Greek boat were released by authorities.