Channel migrant disaster trial opens for 14 in France

Fourteen people are to go on trial in France on Tuesday over the 2021 Channel migrant boat sinking in which 27 people were confirmed dead and four others remain unaccounted for.

The defendants, believed to be linked to people-smuggling networks, are accused of playing a role in the sinking of an inflatable dinghy in the early hours of November 24, 2021. Only two men survived.

The victims were aged between 7 and 46 and were mostly Iraqi Kurds. Afghans, Ethiopians and Egyptians were also among those on board.

The 14 defendants, most of whom were born in Afghanistan, face charges including manslaughter and facilitating illegal immigration as part of an organised criminal group. Two defendants, including an Afghan man, are the subject of arrest warrants and will be tried in absentia.

Prosecutors have accused the defendants of helping launch a small boat that was substandard, uncertified, unfit for the open sea, overcrowded and lacking appropriate life jackets. Investigators also extended liability to people accused of transporting, housing or accompanying the victims as part of a chain of events leading to the disaster.

The defendants have denied being smugglers and disputed responsibility, or have presented themselves as migrants who were trying to make the crossing themselves. Investigators said phone records and location tracking placed several defendants near the departure site and linked them to organising crossings to Britain.

The trial is expected to last three weeks and involves 114 civil parties, including victims' families. Lawyer Matthieu Chirez, who represents 113 civil parties, said: “Justice must hold accountable everyone who played a role in this tragedy.”

A separate strand of the investigation is continuing. Seven French military personnel, including five members of a maritime rescue coordination centre and two sailors aboard a patrol vessel, have been under investigation since 2023 for failing to help a person in danger.

A UK inquiry released in February found that some of the deaths would have been “avoidable” if British and French authorities had acted sooner to rescue those on board. Despite several distress calls, the boat was not found until nearly 12 hours after the first calls for help, when a French fishing vessel located it.