Six members of the Italian police and coastguard went on trial on Friday over a 2023 shipwreck in which at least 94 migrants died. The defendants are accused of involuntary manslaughter for failing to launch rescue operations which could have prevented the shipwreck , despite being aware of the boats presence for hours. The overcrowded boat had set sail from Turkey carrying people from Afghanistan, Syria, Iran, and Pakistan. Dozens of bodies and the wreckage of the boat later washed up along the beach, in what was the worst disaster off the Calabria coast in a decade. The accident set off fierce criticism of Italy’s far-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s tough stance on migrants arriving by boat.

Source: Ethiopian News January 31, 2026 09:50 UTC