Prosecutors in the Italian city of Crotone said, on Tuesday (July 23), they have informed six police and coastguard officers that they may face trial over alleged failures to avoid a migrant shipwreck that killed at least 94 people in 2023.

Under Italian law, the prosecutors must now ask a judge to rule whether to call a formal trial for the six officials following their investigation into the incident.

The charges come 18 months after the sinking of a migrant boat near Crotone in the southern Calabria region, one of the deadliest in Italy's history. The victims, including numerous children, perished when their overcrowded boat sank in stormy weather in the early hours of February 28, 2023 just off the southern region of Calabria.

At the time, European Union border agency Frontex flagged the vessel to the Italians late in the evening as the weather worsened. However, the wooden sailboat, which had set off from Turkey, smashed apart on rocks within sight of a beach.

The disaster sparked outrage amid allegations authorities did not react quickly enough to reports of an overloaded vessel in the area.

Also read: A remembrance procession in Cutro, one year after the shipwreck

Fatal delays

The public prosecutor's office has attributed the primary blame to the Guardia di Finanza (financial and border police), asserting that they halted the search for the sunken ship after initial reports, without even informing the coastguard, the Italian newspaper La Repubblica reported. The coastguard is later accused of having falsified the logbooks.

The four financial police officers allegedly did not mention the sailing difficulties they were having due to the rough sea conditions, while the two members of the coastguard are accused of not acquiring "the necessary information to have a precise idea" of what exactly the financial police were doing and therefore making "an erroneous assessment" of the situation.

An investigation by the journalistic organization Lighthouse Reports examined leaked confidential Frontex mission reports that revealed a plane operated by the border agency had reported signs of distress to Italian authorities. A detailed account of the pilot’s calls show that Frontex knew it was a "possible migrant vessel," with no visible safety jackets and a "significant thermal response" from below deck indicating an "unusual" number of people on board, according to the Frontex press office.

'Obvious negligence'

Under Frontex’s and Italy’s own maritime rules, bad weather, absence of life vests and overcrowding constitute signs of distress. However, despite these signs the Italian authorities failed to launch a search and rescue operation. 

According to prosecutors, there was "obvious negligence in the application of the rules imposed by European and national laws in this type of situation."

The coastguard is supposed to rescue all vessels carrying migrants, as boats run by human traffickers are inevitably dangerously overcrowded and ill-equipped. The prosecutors said coastguard vessels, designed for rough seas, could have intervened despite the conditions.

Critics of right-wing Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said the government's policy of treating migrant boats as a law enforcement issue, rather than a humanitarian one, may have fatally delayed the rescue.

Also read: Italy: Two finance police officers convicted for migrants' death

Smugglers on trial

Prosecutors said in a statement that the officers could be charged with multiple manslaughter and negligence that may have contributed to the shipwreck in February last year.

"I am certain that ... operators will prove that they have nothing to do with any possible responsibility," Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi said in a statement, adding officers devote the "utmost commitment" to saving lives and combating human traffickers.

Italy's right-wing government, led by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, dramatically increased penalties for smugglers and their accomplices in the aftermath of the tragedy, with sentences of up to 30 years in prison.

The prosecutors' statement said two of the smugglers had already been convicted, and three are set to face trial. One smuggler from Turkey was sentenced to 20 years for the disaster. A sixth trafficker was believed to have been killed in the shipwreck.

Also read: Italian Minister of Justice praises country's fight against human trafficking

Outrage among hard right politicians

The move to charge the officials was denounced by Italy's right-wing government who defended the two coast guards and four financial police officers.

"Not only do they risk their lives every day to save others, but they even run the risk of being arrested in the event of a disaster," said Matteo Salvini, leader of the hard-right League party and deputy prime minister in Meloni's government.

Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti, who oversees the financial police, said on Instagram he "strongly defend(s)" both the financial police and the coastguard, and he was "certain that they have always acted exclusively for the public good".

Italy's parliament recently greenlighted a controversial decree to crack down on irregular migration. Known as the Cutro decree — in reference to the southern town in Calabria where more than 90 people died in a shipwreck last February — the legislation severely limits a special protection status Italian authorities can grant to migrants who do not qualify for asylum.

Meloni's government has enacted a number of hardline anti-migration policies and laws that hinder sea rescue, criminalize NGOs and further externalize the European asylum system. Domestically she has been facing mounting criticism for introducing constitutional changes that human rights organizations say undermine democracy and attack press freedom.

According to the UN, 2023 was the deadliest year for migrants in a decade.

Also read: Italy's highest court 'casts doubt' on new migration policy

With AFP, dpa and Reuters