Suspected smugglers on trial over deadliest migrant tragedy in France

Paris trial begins over deadly Channel tragedy, with 14 facing charges for manslaughter.

The trial for the accident involving at least 31 migrants and asylum seekers killed while trying to reach the United Kingdom has begun, with 14 men facing smuggling-related charges.

Some 114 civil parties, including victims’ families, are involved in the trial that opened on Tuesday. The incident was the deadliest disaster on record involving asylum seekers crossing the Channel separating France and the UK.

Twenty-seven people died after their inflatable dinghy deflated in one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes on November 24, 2021. Two men survived, and four others were left unaccounted for.

The victims were mostly Iraqi Kurds but also included nationals from Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Egypt, and Vietnam, aged between seven and 46.

Investigators say Afghan and Iraqi Kurdish migrant smuggling networks organised the crossing to the UK from camps in northern France.

The 14 defendants face charges including manslaughter and “facilitating illegal immigration as part of an organised gang”. Only nine suspects were present at the opening of the trial in a Parisian court, one of whom was in custody. The trial is expected to last three weeks.

Prosecutors accused the defendants of launching a “substandard small boat, uncertified, unfit for navigation on the open sea, overcrowded and lacking appropriate life jackets”.

Two of the suspects will be tried in absentia after eluding French authorities.

A French fishing vessel alerted authorities after reporting bodies floating in the Channel near the UK, according to a court document.

“Around 2:30am, we began bailing water out. But suddenly, the boat capsized,” survivor Issa Omar said in a statement read out in court.

People protest outside the Home Office a day after 27 people drowned when their vessel sank in the English Channel in the deadliest crossing on record, in Westminster, London, on November 25, 2021 [Alberto Pezzali/AP]

A UK inquiry published in February found that some of the deaths were avoidable and concluded that a French naval vessel failed to respond to an alert from the UK coastguard.

Despite dozens of distress calls made to the UK and French rescue services, it was nearly 12 hours before the boat was finally found.