00:0114 defendants go on trial in France on Tuesday over a 2021 channel crossing that killed 31 people,
00:09including a 7-year-old, in the worst small boat disaster involving migrants in those waters.
00:16Most of the 14 defendants, the majority Afghan nationals, face charges of manslaughter and
00:22organized facilitation of illegal immigration. Two, including one Afghan national, will be
00:29tried in absentia under active arrest warrants. Prosecutors allege the accused said to have
00:36ties with smuggling operations bear responsibility for the sinking that claimed 27 lives when an
00:43overloaded dinghy went down in the early hours of 24 November 2021. Four victims have never been found
00:51and just two men made it out alive. Investigators argue that responsibility also falls on those who
00:58transported, sheltered or escorted the victims beforehand, framing these actions as links in
01:04a, quote, chain of successive events culminating in a disaster. The defendants have pushed back,
01:11denying involvement in smuggling. Some claim they themselves were simply migrants attempting the
01:17crossing. A UK government inquiry published in February concluded that faster action by French
01:23British authorities and British authorities could have prevented some of the deaths.
