Sunday , 22 December, 2024 | 8 পৌষ, 1431 Bangabdo
Published: 09:33 21 May 2024
A court in southern Greece has started the trial of nine Egyptian nationals accused of involvement in the sinking of a trawler that killed hundreds of migrants while smuggling people to Europe by sea.
On June 14 last year, a fishing trawler named Adriana sank in the Mediterranean Sea with more than 500 migrants on board. The trawler was heading to Italy from the coast of Libya. Most of these aspirants were citizens of Syria, Pakistan and Egypt.
104 alive and 82 dead were rescued from the sunken trawler. The rest were not found. The incident almost shook the European Union's border protection and asylum operation system. Even UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called the incident "horrific".
The Greek Coast Guard arrested 9 people for their involvement in the incident. All of them are between 20 and 30 years old. All of them are human-employees owned by Adriana and linked to human trafficking. They have been arrested based on the testimony of the migrants who were rescued alive.
Some Greece-based human rights organizations objected to the trial. Some people also started protesting in front of the court on the day of the trial on Tuesday. However, the court dispersed the protest and arrested two people.
The European Union's border protection authority Frontex said in a statement that the trend of migrants entering Europe by sea is increasing despite the unlimited risks.
Source: AP, Al Arabiya
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