accused of failing to intervene on time. The disaster off the southern Calabrian coast was Italy's worst in a decade and set off a firestorm of criticism against far-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's tough stance on the thousands of migrants who arrive by boat each year from North Africa. Thirty-five children were among those killed when the boat crashed on the rocks off the coast of the tourist town of Cutro on February 26, 2023. Four officers from Italy's Guardia di Finanza (GDF) financial crimes police and two members of the coastguard are standing trial in nearby Crotone. They are accused of involuntary manslaughter and "culpable shipwreck", a crime in the Italian penal code punishing negligent actions or omissions leading to a shipwreck. The overcrowded boat had set sail from Turkey carrying people from Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan and Syria. Around 80 survived. Dozens of bodies washed up along the beach, their coffins later filling much of a nearby sports hall -- brown wood for the adults, white for the children. Authorities say more people may have perished in the shipwreck, their bodies never found. (Bssnews)