9 men charged in migrant ship disaster near Greece to be held pending trial
The Egyptian suspects face charges that include participation in a criminal organization, manslaughter and causing a shipwreck. A court in Greece’s southern city of Kalamata ordered their detention after questioning them for hours.
Survivors said women and children were trapped in the hold as the ship capsized and sank within minutes to one of the deepest spots in the Mediterranean.Survivor accounts emerged Tuesday confirming that about 750 people paid thousands of dollars each for a berth on the battered blue fishing trawler, seeking a better life in Europe.
The testimonies also echoed previous accounts that the steel-hulled trawler sank in calm seas during a botched attempt to tow it. This clashes with the Greek coast guard’s insistence that neither its patrol boat that escorted the trawler in its last hours nor any other vessel attached a tow rope. Alhaz, a 24-year-old Palestinian from Syria, said he paid $4,000 to board the ship at Tobruk in eastern Libya. He said the “people in charge” on the trawler were all Egyptians, and recognized seven suspects from pictures Greek authorities showed him.Lawyer Athanassios Iliopoulos, representing a 22-year-old Egyptian alleged smuggler, told The AP that all 9 suspects denied the charges in court and claimed to be migrants themselves.
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