ROME: Six members of Italy’s police and coast guard go on trial Friday over a 2023 shipwreck that killed at least 94 migrants, accused of failing to intervene on time.
The disaster off the southern Calabrian coast was Italy’s worst in a decade and set off a firestorm of criticism against far-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s tough stance on the thousands of migrants who arrive by boat each year from North Africa.
Thirty-five children were among those killed when the boat crashed on the rocks off the coast of the tourist town of Cutro on February 26, 2023.
Four officers from Italy’s Guardia di Finanza (GDF) financial crimes police and two members of the coast guard are standing trial in nearby Crotone.
They are accused of involuntary manslaughter and “culpable shipwreck,” a crime in the Italian penal code punishing negligent actions or omissions leading to a shipwreck.
