Ajudge on the southern Italian city of Crotone on Monday indicted six Italian officials for allegedly failing to take action that may have prevented the shipwreck of a migrant boat off Steccato di Cutro on the night of February 26, 2023 – a disaster in which at least 94 people, 35 of them minors, died.

The officials, four members of the finance police and two of the local port authority, are charged with the crimes of culpable shipwreck and multiple culpable homicide over the alleged failure to activate the search-and-rescue protocol quickly enough.

The Summer Love boat, which was thought to be carrying over 180 people, ran aground at 4:30 am on the night of the disaster and broke up in stormy seas a short distance from the Calabrian shore after four days’ sailing from Turkey.

There were 81 survivors. Four people have been convicted for allegedly being part of the gang of human traffickers that organized the crossing.