More than 90 migrants died when a Calabria boat capsized, a tragedy that the Crotone Prosecutor’s Office says could have been prevented. Formal charges were filed this Tuesday against six Italian law enforcement officials for failing to avert the deaths of the migrants who drowned on February 26, 2023, just meters from the Italian coast, a case that shocked Europe.
The accused face charges of multiple manslaughter and shipwreck. The defendants include four officers from the Guardia di Finanza, Italy’s financial police, one officer from the customs police, and two from the Italian Coast Guard. The prosecutorial team, which has prepared the case over more than a year and compiled thousands of documents, notes that the first group could face heavier penalties depending on the evidence gathered.
The core argument centers on allegations that the Guardia di Finanza suspended search operations and returned to the port without informing the coast guard, which possessed greater resources to confront the stormy conditions that night. Additionally, there are claims that onboard logs were falsified, according to information leaked to Italian media.
Communication Failure
The absence of a message from the port authority in Vibo Valentia prevented the declaration of a Search and Rescue operation, which would have triggered the intervention of the coast guard. This did not happen because the officers allegedly resisted activating the rescue operation. In the prosecutor Pasquale Festa’s reasoning, the primary responsibility of the coast guard would be to act and coordinate with the Guardia di Finanza, treating the situation as an emergency rather than a routine police matter.
The prosecutors contend that this conduct led the migrant boat to remain at sea, eventually colliding with a sandbank during a risky maneuver by the traffickers. The collision caused the shipwreck that claimed the lives of more than 90 people, including 35 children. Only 81 migrants survived, later called to testify in the aftermath of the disaster, with the traffickers who commanded the vessel already under detention in 2023.