The Second Section of the Provincial Court of Las Palmas will try next Monday, October 23, the skipper of the boat that sank on November 24, 2020, in the port of Órzola and in which eight of the 36 occupants died.
The defendant SJ, of legal age and a native of Morocco, has been in provisional prison since November 30, 2020, as agreed by the Investigating Court number 2 of Arrecife.
The Prosecutor's Office's indictment states that SJ allegedly agreed with "other unidentified people" and that, motivated by the intention of enriching themselves, they "charged various amounts of money" to the 36 migrants to transfer them from the Alawi city of Agadir to the Canary Islands.
According to the Public Ministry, he allegedly did so "knowing that they were violating the rules on entry into the national territory" and that they would be in an irregular situation in the country.
Thus, around 8:15 p.m. on November 24, 2020, the precarious vessel arrived at Charca de la Laja in Órzola. The Public Prosecutor's Office assures that it did not have any security system, such as life jackets, food or water, "which endangered the lives of the immigrants."
The collision of the boat, six meters long and 2.5 meters wide, with a rock caused the occupants to fall and the death of eight people who have been identified as AE, KH, MO, LO, YA, MY and MA. Among them, also TCe, a second skipper, who, according to the Public Ministry, captained the boat together with the accused. The deaths of all the people rescued were due to "asphyxia by submersion in salt water."
