A group of Egyptians held for nearly a year on suspicion of involvement in a tragic shipwreck, have been released from jail in southern Greece. This development comes a day after a court dismissed the case against them, citing jurisdictional constraints.
The men had faced charges related to their alleged roles as crew members aboard the Adriana, a severely overcrowded trawler that capsized and sank near Greece in June last year. The vessel, en route from Libya to Italy, was carrying an estimated 700 individuals, of whom only 104 survived the ordeal.
Following their release, eight of the accused were set free from a detention centre near the city of Nafplio on Wednesday evening. They were subsequently transferred to a police station for further processing, with one detainee set to be released from a different facility.
The shipwreck, which resulted in a significant loss of life, has sparked contentious debates regarding responsibility. Survivors and human rights organizations have levied accusations against the Greek coastguard, alleging that their actions during an attempt to tow the vessel away from Greece’s maritime jurisdiction exacerbated the disaster.
