Channel crossings: France charges nine suspects over drowning of 27 migrants
Channel crossings: France charges nine suspects over drowning of 27 migrants
Nine suspects have been detained by French authorities for their alleged involvement in the drowning of 27 migrants who tried to cross the English Channel last year.
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The victims of the disaster were aged between seven and 47 [source: Getty]
French prosecutors have charged nine men over their involvement in the November 2021 drowning of migrants in which 27 people died, a judicial source said on Friday.
This takes the total number of people charged for their alleged role in to 10, of whom five have been incarcerated on accusations including manslaughter, said the source who asked not to be named.
The death of the 27 in late November was the worst accident in the Channel since 2018 when the narrow strait became a key route for migrants from Africa, the and Asia who have been increasingly using small boats to reach England from France.
Among the 27 - aged seven to 47 - were 16 , four Afghans, three Ethiopians, one Somali, one Egyptian and one Vietnamese migrant.
Only two people survived the disaster.Ìý
Police had arrested 15 suspects in an overnight operation on Sunday to Monday as part of their months-long investigation into the disaster, releasing five of them without charges.
The others were taken before a judge who charged one of them on Wednesday and the nine others on Thursday including with involuntary , involuntary injury, endangering the lives of others and people trafficking, said the source.
Some of the people charged allegedly acted as drivers, people-traffickers or provided shelter, notably on behalf of a network originating in aiming to bring migrants to Britain illegally.
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