Paris trial opens over fatal English Channel migrant crossing

Fourteen men will stand trial in Paris over charges linked to the deaths of more than 30 migrants who drowned while attempting to cross the English Channel in 2021, in the deadliest migrant disaster recorded in the narrow waterway between France and Britain, Reuters reports.

The migrants died after their overloaded inflatable dinghy deflated as they attempted the perilous crossing of one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes.

Investigators allege that Afghan and Iraqi-Kurdish smuggling networks organised the migrants’ journey to Britain from camps near Grande-Synthe and Calais in northern France. The defendants face charges including involuntary manslaughter, facilitating illegal immigration as part of an organised gang, and criminal conspiracy.

According to the court referral order, a French fishing vessel alerted emergency services after spotting bodies floating in waters off the French coast near Calais in November 2021. Twenty-seven victims were recovered, while at least four others were never found. Only two men survived.

The victims were predominantly Iraqi Kurds, but also included Afghans, Ethiopians, an Egyptian, a Somali national, an Iranian Kurd and a Vietnamese national. The youngest known victim was a seven-year-old girl.

The migrants had been packed onto a flimsy, non-certified dinghy that was unfit for open-sea navigation and lacked sufficient life jackets, according to court documents. Experts concluded that its occupants had "no chance" of effectively dealing with an emergency at sea.

Among those facing involuntary manslaughter charges are alleged organisers, transporters and logistics coordinators linked to the smuggling networks. Prosecutors argue that their actions helped create the conditions that led to the disaster, even though some were not physically present when the boat was launched.

Two defendants have evaded French authorities and will be tried in absentia.

Investigators have cited evidence including mobile phone data, intercepted communications, surveillance operations, and testimony from survivors and relatives of the victims.

A British inquiry into the disaster found that the deaths could have been avoided. It concluded that a French naval vessel failed to respond to a call for help from the British coastguard, which itself made "a number of flawed decisions", including ending the search for survivors too early.

Lawyers for the victims’ families said some relatives would travel from Erbil in Iraqi Kurdistan to attend part of the trial.

"Justice must hold to account everyone who played a role in this tragedy," the statement read.

The trial is scheduled to continue until September 30.

By Vafa Guliyeva