Hundreds died

650 dead in shipwreck: trial in Vienna

The fishing trawler Adriana on June 14, 2023 with hundreds of people on board. It sank shortly afterwards and all the women and children on board died.

(Bild: Griech. Küstenwache)

It was a horrific journey with an even more horrific outcome: for days, 750 refugees sailed on a completely overcrowded fishing boat from Libya to the Greek coast. On June 14, 2023, the ship sank - around 100 men survived. Women and children drowned without exception. Two Syrians are said to have organized the smuggling of five people on the death ship from Vienna. They are on trial in Landl.

The odyssey across the Mediterranean lasted six days in June 2023 - with no guidance, no food and no water. "A fishing boat does not carry 750 people," is how the prosecutor begins her description of the unspeakable disaster off the Greek coast on June 14. Men, women and children stood, sat and lay tightly packed on the completely rusted fishing boat.

All the women and children died
Off Pylos, the captain of the ship reported engine failure to the Greek coastguard - in just a few minutes, the fishing trawler sank with hundreds of refugees on and below deck. Only 104 people - all of them male - were rescued; 79 people were recovered dead from the sea. Hundreds of men, women and children are missing - it is likely that they did not survive the accident. 

Tugboat organized from Vienna?
Among them are refugees who are now the subject of the Vienna Regional Court. Two Syrians from the Austrian capital are said to have organized the smuggling of the refugees, handled the payments - and made a tidy sum themselves. Only one man survived, four others drowned. The public prosecutor explains why the trial is being held in Vienna: "The organization of the smuggling already constitutes a criminal offence."

This is an absolute catastrophe. It really must have been a horror trip.

Wissam Barbar, Verteidiger des 27-Jährigen

To which both the 27-year-old and the 29-year-old pleaded not guilty. Wissam Barbar, defence lawyer for the first defendant, explains: "My client didn't organize anything at all. He had nothing to do with money at all." At least as far as the five victims of the shipwreck off Pylos are concerned. He pleaded guilty to two other cases that had nothing to do with the fatal voyage and that he had encouraged or attempted to encourage their illegal journey to Europe. 

Not a lucrative business
However, he does not claim to have received several thousand euros for this "help". It was more of a favor. "They said they earn 750 euros as a cab driver. You have four children and your wife doesn't work. How does that work out?" asked the public prosecutor. The 27-year-old's dry answer: "We get grants for the children." He cannot explain why a witness from Germany, whose son died in the shipwreck, incriminates him so heavily ...

The 29-year-old second defendant, defended by lawyer Peter Philipp, does not want to have anything to do with trafficking. The trial is adjourned for his questioning and the testimony of the surviving refugee. The two Syrians face up to ten years in prison.

The trial in the regional court is only a small part of the legal investigation into the catastrophe. Last May, the trial of nine Egyptians who survived the disaster began in Kalamata, Greece. The public prosecutor's office accused the men of membership of a criminal organization, aiding and abetting illegal entry and negligent homicide by causing the shipwreck. However, the court found them not guilty. An investigation opened by the Greek maritime court in June 2023 into possible misconduct by the coast guard is still pending.