ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Fourteen suspected people smugglers are set to go on trial in Paris over the deaths of at least 27 people, most of them from the Kurdistan Region, in the deadliest small-boat disaster in the history of the English Channel.

The incident dates back to November of 2021, after a French fishing vessel spotted the remains of a small boat, with lifeless bodies floating in the open waters. At least 27 people, including a seven-year-old child, were confirmed dead.

The victims had attempted to contact French and British rescue teams, but their cries for help fell on deaf ears. Of the 33 passengers, aged seven to 46, only two survived the tragedy.

The defendants, mainly from Afghanistan, are believed to be linked to people-smuggling networks, AFP reported. They have been accused of helping launch a “substandard” boat that was unfit for navigation on the open sea.

The defendants face charges of manslaughter and facilitating illegal immigration, according to AFP, which added that a UK inquiry into the incident released in February found that some of the deaths would have been “avoidable” had French and British rescue services acted more quickly.

Thousands of migrants try to illegally cross the deadly Mediterranean Sea every year in search of a better life in Europe and the United Kingdom, with a large number of them coming from the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and the Kurdish areas of Syria, Iran, and Turkey.

Many migrants who successfully enter Europe then move on to the UK, often by sailing across the Channel from France on boats provided by people smugglers.

In November 2024, the British government announced reaching a “world-first” security agreement with Iraq and the Kurdistan Region, aimed at combating irregular migration and other border security concerns, after a three-day trip to Baghdad and Erbil by the UK Home Secretary at the time, Yvette Cooper.