Greek court postpones hearing for nine arrested over boat sinking

A court in southern Greece on Monday postponed a hearing for nine Egyptian men accused of being migrant smugglers in a case involving the sinking of a fishing trawler last week that killed at least 78 people and left hundreds more missing.

Estimates have put the number of people packed on the dilapidated boat at up to 750.

Greece recovered two more bodies on Monday, bringing the confirmed toll to 80, after a fishing boat packed with hundreds of migrants sank of its south-west coast last week in a journey which started from Libya and was supposed to end in Italy.

Only 104 people are known to have survived. Search and rescue operations are ongoing, although no survivors have been found since last week.

The Kafkaesque charade on Dublin’s Grand Canal is not ‘common sense’. It is common stupidity

---

Europe’s homeless asylum seeker crisis: ‘This is not human rights, I am staying in the street with a baby’

---

Anatomy of a fake story: How anti-immigration candidates spread false information to boost their profile

---

Government cannot be accused of inaction over needs of asylum seekers, court told

---

The court in Kalamata postponed the hearing of the nine Egyptians until Tuesday to provide them and their lawyers with time to review the testimonies of nine Syrian and Pakistani survivors, given over the weekend.

The Egyptians, who were reportedly identified as members of a smuggling ring by some of the survivors, face charges of participating in a criminal organisation, causing a shipwreck and endangering lives.

[ Sally Hayden: How has the mass drowning of people become normalised? ]

There was no official information on exactly how many Pakistanis were onboard the vessel, how many survived and how many died. It is believed the total could be more than 200.

Pakistani authorities have arrested 14 people in connection with the alleged trafficking.

The Pakistani government has ordered a high-level inquiry to investigate the human trafficking network thought to be involved, a statement from prime minister Shehbaz Sharif’s office said.

“My thoughts and prayers are with the bereaved families who lost their loved ones,” Mr Sharif added.

A national day of mourning was declared in Pakistan. The national flag was flown at half-mast on Monday, and legislators in the national assembly, the lower house of the parliament, expressed their condolences.

At least 21 of those who died came from the Kotli district in Pakistan’s part of the Himalayan Kashmir region, police official Riaz Mughal said. Two of the 12 Pakistanis who survived the sinking also came from the same town.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, said it could be the second deadliest refugee and migrant shipwreck recorded, after the April 2015 capsizing of another vessel on the Libya-Italy route that killed an estimated 1,100 people.

The boat is thought to have set off with passengers from the Libyan coastal city of Tobruk on June 10th.

Greek authorities say the vessel, which they had monitored for about 15 hours after being alerted by Italy, flipped and capsized about 25 minutes after its engine stalled in the early hours of June 14th.

Authorities said the vessel repeatedly refused Greek help, saying it wanted to go to Italy.

Alarm Phone, an advocacy group that was in communication with the vessel, said that on at least two occasions people on board pleaded for help. The group said it alerted Greek authorities and aid agencies hours before the disaster unfolded.

Glaring inconsistencies in the information officials have so far released have fuelled accusations that Greek authorities may have deliberately held back to avoid so many people coming ashore.

The coastguard, tasked with overseeing the inquiry into the disaster, has been put on the defensive by the lack of video footage to support its version of events.

“Where is the video, the video [footage] that should have been taken of the [rescue] operation?” asked Christos Spirtzis, a former transport minister. “That is the key question.”

Last week when pressed on the issue, Nikos Alexiou, the Greek coastguard’s spokesperson, responded: “The vessel’s cameras were operable but the operation wasn’t recorded [on video]. There is no recording.”

Three days after the incident, a government spokesperson admitted that shortly before the sinking a rope was thrown to the stricken boat, prompting speculation that attempts by the coastguard to tug the boat caused it to keel over – an accusation the coastguard strongly denies. – Reuters/AP