May 27 (UPI) -- A court in Greece charged 17 members of the Hellenic Coast Guard and four officials in connection with a shipwreck in which as many as 650 migrants drowned in the Mediterranean Sea off the southern city of Pylos in June 2023.
Piraeus Naval Court deputy prosecutor Monday charged the captain of the coast guard vessel LS-920 with causing a shipwreck resulting in the deaths of 82 people -- the number of bodies recovered -- reckless interference with maritime transport and failure to provide assistance to a vessel in distress at sea.
The charges stem from an alleged bungled effort by the coastguards to tow the overloaded Adriana, which was attempting to smuggle 750 paying migrants to Italy from Libya, causing it to capsize, and then conspiring to cover it up.
Just 104 survivors were rescued. Another estimated 500 people beneath the deck of the fishing boat, including 100 women and children, remain missing, presumed drowned, according to the United Nations.
The 16 crew members were charged with being complicit in the criminal acts allegedly committed by the captain, while the then-chief of the Coast Guard and the supervisor of the National Search and Rescue Coordination Center in Piraeus were among four officials charged with "exposing others to danger."
