ROME: Italian prosecutors investigating a deadly shipwreck which killed 94 migrants in 2023 accused two members of the coast guard and four police officers Tuesday of involuntary manslaughter.
Prosecutors in Crotone, a city near the shipwreck off southern Italy, must now ask a judge to rule whether the six stand trial for the tragedy.
The victims, including many children, perished when their overcrowded boat sank in stormy dawn weather just off the region of Calabria.
The disaster sparked outrage amid allegations authorities did not react quickly enough to reports of an overloaded vessel in the area.
Critics of far-right Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said the government’s policy of treating migrant boats as a law enforcement issue, rather than a humanitarian one, may have fatally delayed the rescue.
European Union border agency Frontex flagged the vessel to the Italians late in the evening as the weather worsened.
The four financial police officers stand accused of failing to communicate key information to the coast guard, because they did not mention the difficulties they were having in sailing due to the difficult sea conditions, prosecutors said in a statement Tuesday.
The two members of the coast guard are accused of “not having acquired the necessary information to have a precise idea” of what the financial police were up to and of having therefore made “an erroneous assessment” of the situation.
The prosecutors said coast guard vessels, designed for rough seas, could have intervened.
The coast guard is supposed to rescue all vessels carrying migrants, as boats run by human traffickers are inevitably dangerously overcrowded and ill-equipped.
There was “obvious negligence in the application of the rules imposed by European and national laws in this type of situation,” the prosecutors said.
Italy prosecutors accuse six over 2023 migrant shipwreck
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Italy prosecutors accuse six over 2023 migrant shipwreck
- Prosecutors in Crotone, a city near the shipwreck off southern Italy, must now ask a judge to rule whether the six stand trial for the tragedy
- The disaster sparked outrage amid allegations authorities did not react quickly enough to reports of an overloaded vessel in the area
French volunteer bakes for Ukraine amid frosts and power outages
- The French volunteer, who calls himself a “baker without borders,” wants to help them through an especially cold winter
- Loic works alone and starts early, but he still manages to bake around 700 loaves a day
BORODYANKA, Ukraine: In a truck parked in the Kyiv region, Loic Nervi kneaded the dough vigorously before sliding dozens of tins into the oven — loaves that will later be handed out to Ukrainians.
By making bread, the French volunteer, who calls himself a “baker without borders,” wants to help them through an especially cold winter, marked by repeated power and heating cuts caused by Russian strikes.
Loic works alone and starts early, but he still manages to bake around 700 loaves a day, making locals flock in lines before his white truck.
“I knew there were problems with electricity and heating in Kyiv. It’s the first time I’ve come here and worked here in the Kyiv region and in Kyiv itself,” explained the volunteer, who already did a few missions in Ukraine.
Throughout these trips, he distributed tens of thousands of loaves since the start of the war in 2022, mostly to elderly people who have no support from their families or from the state, Nervi said.
“It’s important to keep supporting (Ukrainians),” the Frenchman told AFP, while admitting that “most French people no longer want to — they’re tired and don’t want to hear about this war anymore.”
“But no, the war is still ongoing,” said the strong-armed baker, sporting a short bristle of beard.
Working in his truck powered by two generators, he makes two main types of bread: a multigrain loaf with sunflower, sesame, poppy and flax seeds, designed to be filling and nutritious, and a soft white sandwich-style bread made with milk, sugar and eggs.
“I travel frequently — so I also leave my family behind, and it’s very hard for them. It’s a sacrifice I make for Ukraine, a personal and family sacrifice,” said Loic.
“But I think it’s worth it, because if everyone only thinks about their own comfort, we won’t move forward,” he added.
Moscow has in recent months conducted a series of massive drone and missile attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure, causing extensive power, water and heating outages.
The attacks, which especially targeted the capital Kyiv, come at a moment of particularly biting temperatures in Ukraine, which have dropped to as low as -20C throughout winter.
Ukraine, for its part, targeted power infrastructure in the Russian border regions and oil refineries across the country.
