Greek court orders 9 smuggling suspects held pending trial over migrant ship disaster

By COSTAS KANTOURIS and NICHOLAS PAPHITIS
Associated Press

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Nine men suspected of crewing a migrant smuggling ship that sank off Greece leaving more than 500 missing have been placed in pretrial custody. And new accounts have emerged on the sinking and the appalling conditions on the trip from Libya towards Italy. The Egyptian suspects denied charges that include participation in a criminal organization, manslaughter and causing a shipwreck. The hearing took place Tuesday in Greece’s southern city of Kalamata. Only 104 men and youths — Egyptians, Pakistanis, Syrians and Palestinians — survived one of the worst migrant shipwrecks in the Mediterranean Sea early on June 14; 82 bodies have been recovered, the last late Tuesday, as the search continued for a seventh day.