This is the horrifying moment a passenger was pushed into the sea to his death by ferry crew after he tried to leap on to the departing vessel at a Greek port.

Shocking footage shows the 36-year-old man, who has not been named, sprinting towards the Blue Horizon ferry and frantically jumping on to the ramp just as the vessel was starting to pull away from the port of Piraeus last night.  

But two crew members, who were standing on the ramp, prevented the man from boarding and appeared to push him backwards. 

The latecomer tried for a second time to board the vessel – bound for Heraklion in Crete – this time with devastating consequences as the crew members violently shoved him backwards. 

In harrowing scenes, the man lost his balance and toppled into the churning sea below where he fought to stay above the water.

In separate video, the man can be seen being sucked below the foaming water due to the power of the ferry’s propellers. It is not known whether the victim hit his head as a result of falling from the ferry but his body was pulled from the sea a short time later, reports Protothema.

Shocking footage shows the 36-year-old man, who has not been named, sprinting towards the Blue Horizon ferry

The man can be seen reaching the ramp and jumping on to it where he is met by crew members 

Several crew appear to confront the man on the ferry ramp just as the vessel leaves Piraeus

Two of them prevent the man from boarding and seem to push him backwards

The two crew members can be seen looking down into the water at the man, as the ferry continues to sail away from the port. 

Witnesses appeared to suggest that the crew members had shoved the latecomer off the vessel’s ramp because he didn’t have a ticket – despite the fact that passengers are able to buy one on board.

‘Come on, did he throw him off the [ramp] and die?’ one witness asked, while another added: ‘He was probably taken by the propeller and sank.’ 

The Greek coastguard said the victim was plucked from the water unconscious and rushed to the General State Hospital of Nikaia where he was pronounced dead. 

The Blue Horizon ferry was ordered to return to the port of Piraeus after the horrifying incident where the captain and crew members were arrested, the Greek newspaper Protothema reported.

But the latecomer tries for a second time to board the vessel towards Heraklion in Crete – this time with devastating consequences as the crew members shove him backwards

In a harrowing scene, the man, circled, loses his balance and topples into the churning sea where he fights to stay above the water

‘A man fell in the port of Piraeus during the sailing of the Blue Horizon. He was recovered unconscious and taken to the General State Hospital of Nikaia. The ship is returning to Piraeus,’ the coastguard said. 

Miltiadis Varvitsiotis, Greece’s shipping minister, said: ‘I express my sadness for the tragic incident in the port of Piraeus in which one person lost his life. 

‘All the necessary actions are being taken by the Piraeus Port Authority to clarify the case and assign responsibility.’