Two Turks detained pending trial over deadly migrant boat chase off Greek island

Two Turks detained pending trial over deadly migrant boat chase off Greek island

Two Turkish nationals were detained pending trial for people trafficking on Wednesday after a deadly boat chase with the Greek coastguard off the island of Symi on Aug. 23.

A 39-year-old man, thought to be from Kuwait, was found dead in a speedboat carrying migrants off the east Aegean island. The Greek coastguard said warning shots were fired at the vessel when it ignored calls to stop and engaged in dangerous manoeuvres.

The two defendants, 16 and 24 years, have been charged with people smuggling. They have both denied wrongdoing, legal sources said.

They appeared before a judge on the island of Rhodes on Wednesday who ordered their detention pending trial. The date of the trial depends on when the investigating magistrate wraps up a preliminary probe into the case.

A separate courts-martial process is under way against the coast guard officer who shot at the speedboat, charged with involuntary manslaughter and using a firearm for no reason.

In preliminary testimony, the officer said that he acted on his own initiative after the person steering the speedboat attempted to ram the coastguard vessel, placing coastguard crews' lives at risk.

Greece has been a favoured gateway to the European Union for migrants and refugees from the Middle East, Africa and Asia since 2015, when nearly one million people reached its shores, in an unprecedented humanitarian crisis.

Thousands of others have died at sea. Numbers have dropped significantly since then and some 18,000 have reached Greece by sea so far this year.