Nine men charged over the shipwreck off Greece that killed at least 82 migrants, denied any wrongdoing in a Greek court on Tuesday.
According to Reuters, the suspected smugglers, all from Egypt and aged between 20 and 40 years, appeared before a prosecutor to respond to charges that included manslaughter, setting up a criminal organisation, migrant smuggling and causing a shipwreck.
They all denied any wrongdoing.
This comes as Greece continues to search for survivors after a fishing boat packed with hundreds of migrants sank off Greece’s south-west coast last week.
The boat was thought to be carrying up to 700 migrants from Egypt, Syria and Pakistan but only 104 people have been rescued. The coast guard retrieved three more bodies on Monday and one on Tuesday, revising the death toll to 82.
Greece has also come under increasing scrutiny over its response to the June 12-13 disaster, with domestic and international media claiming that the fishing vessel carrying migrants to Italy was not moving for several hours before capsizing.
The Hellenic Coast Guard has rejected these claims.
Source: Reuters.
