PARIS: Fourteen people went on trial in France on Tuesday over the death of at least 31 people in the Channel in 2021, the deadliest accident involving asylum seekers trying to reach the English coast. The trial carries particular significance because of the high death toll and the sheer number of civil parties involved, 114 in all, including victims’ families. Some of them travelled from Erbil in Iraq’s Kurdistan region to testify. The 14 men are accused of playing a role in the disaster in which 27 people died when their inflatable dinghy sank in the early hours of November 24, 2021. Four others are unaccounted for. At the opening of the trial, only nine of the defendants were present, one of whom appeared in custody. The victims, aged between seven and 46, included seven women and two teenagers and were mostly Iraqi Kurds, but also Afghan, Ethiopian, Egyptian and Vietnamese nationals. Only two men survived the tragedy. On November 24, 2021, a French fishing vessel reported several lifeless bodies floating in the Channel off Calais, close to British waters. Testimony from the two survivors, who had paid 1,500 euros and 2,750 euros ($1,740 and $3,200) respectively for the crossing, helped investigators partially reconstruct the harrowing events. - ‘Everyone panicked’ - According to them, their flimsy boat began to deflate and take on water after several hours at sea. “Around 2:30 am, we began bailing water out. But suddenly the boat capsized,” Somali survivor Issa Omar said during the investigation, according to testimony read out in court. “Everyone panicked. You could hear sobbing and women screaming.” Passengers fell overboard and drowned one after another, despite making around a dozen desperate calls for help to French and British rescue services. Omar’s lawyer, Matthieu Chirez, said his client “did not have the strength to attend today and will be heard if he is able to do so” at a later date. The trial is expected to last three weeks. Thomas Ricard, one of the lawyers for many of the victims’ families, said nine people came from Erbil to testify. “This is an important step for them, something that will not give them solace but something that will allow them some recovery as part of this long process of grief,” he said. Zana Mamand Mohammed displayed large photos of his brother and other Iraqis who died. “They had plans, dreams,” he said, his voice breaking. Zana, a 32-year-old Iraqi Kurdish police officer, spoke about Twana, his 18-year-old brother who like many wanted to flee an Iraq plagued by chaos and war and “go somewhere else to find another life.” “Since this shipwreck, we’ve been constantly waiting to find our brother... to have a grave where we can go and mourn,” he said. - French personnel under investigation - The 14 men, most of them born in Afghanistan, stand accused of manslaughter and facilitating illegal immigration as part of an organised criminal group, and risk up to 10 years in prison if convicted. Two of them are the subject of arrest warrants and will be tried in absentia. Prosecutors have accused the defendants of helping launch a “substandard small boat, uncertified, unfit for navigation on the open sea, overcrowded and lacking appropriate life jackets”. The defendants have denied being smugglers and disputed their responsibility, or have presented themselves as migrants seeking to make the journey themselves. The case is also high-profile because of another highly sensitive strand of the investigation, which is still ongoing. Seven French military personnel have been under investigation since 2023 for failing to help people in danger. A UK inquiry released in February found some of the deaths would have been “avoidable” if British and French authorities had acted sooner to rescue those onboard. Despite distress calls, it was nearly 12 hours after the first pleas for help before the boat was finally found. By that time, most of those on board had drowned. The separate case could lead to another trial.