Italian Officials Face Trial Over Fatal Migrant Shipwreck

Six members of Italy’s police and coastguard are set to stand trial on Friday over a 2023 shipwreck that claimed at least 94 migrant lives, accused of failing to intervene in time.

The disaster off the southern Calabrian coast was Italy’s deadliest in a decade and drew criticism of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s hardline policies toward migrants arriving by boat from North Africa. Thirty-five children were among those killed when the vessel struck rocks near the tourist town of Cutro on February 26, 2023.

Four officers from Italy’s Guardia di Finanza (GDF) financial crimes police and two coastguard members face charges of involuntary manslaughter and “culpable shipwreck,” a crime under Italian law for negligence leading to a shipwreck.

The overcrowded boat had departed from Turkey carrying migrants from Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, and Syria. Approximately 80 passengers survived, while dozens of bodies washed ashore. Many coffins, brown for adults and white for children, were placed in a nearby sports hall. Authorities have said additional victims may never be found.

The charges stem from a search-and-rescue operation that prosecutors say never took place, despite the vessel being tracked for hours. A Frontex aircraft had spotted the boat in distress roughly 38 kilometres from the coast and alerted Italian authorities.

However, a GDF vessel dispatched to assist reportedly turned back due to rough weather, and the migrant boat ultimately capsized on the rocks. Prosecutors allege that the police failed to communicate critical information to the coastguard, while the coastguard did not obtain essential details from police that might have prompted a faster response.

Liborio Cataliotti, the lawyer for defendant Alberto Lippolis of the GDF, said his client was “very calm” ahead of the trial. Lippolis, who oversaw the air and naval command centre from a different part of Calabria, is being held accountable for subordinates not providing sufficient information. All defendants operated from control centres distant from the shipwreck site.

Charities involved in Mediterranean search-and-rescue operations, including SOS Humanity and Mediterranea Saving Humans, are civil parties to the case. They have argued that the tragedy highlights Meloni’s government policy of treating migrant boats as law enforcement issues rather than humanitarian emergencies.

Judith Sunderland, acting deputy director for Europe and Central Asia at Human Rights Watch, said the trial concerns not only the individual officers but also “Italian state policies that prioritise deterring and criminalising asylum seekers and migrants over saving lives.”

Following the tragedy, Meloni attributed responsibility primarily to human traffickers and announced stricter penalties for those causing migrant deaths. Two men accused of trafficking the migrants — a Turkish and a Syrian national — were sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2024. Later that year, two Pakistanis and a Turk were convicted for lesser roles in the journey, receiving sentences of 14 to 16 years.

Around 66,000 migrants arrived in Italy last year, similar to 2024, down from over 157,000 in 2023. However, many continued to perish while attempting the crossing. The UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported at least 1,340 deaths in the central Mediterranean last year.

Recently, the IOM expressed concern for more than 50 people missing after a shipwreck off Libya during Storm Harry, and one-year-old twin girls were reported missing after their boat encountered rough weather on a journey from Tunisia to Italy.