Italy jails captain over migrant disaster

CATANIA, Italy: An Italian court ruled on Tuesday that the captain of a migrant boat that sank in 2015, killing up to 900 people, was responsible for the disaster, the Mediterranean´s worst since World War II.

Judges in Catania ordered Mohammed Ali Malek, a Tunisian national, to serve 18 years in jail for multiple manslaughter, human trafficking and causing the tragedy after the packed boat capsized after colliding with a freighter coming to its aid.

Syrian Mahmoud Bikhit, accused of being his first mate, was handed a five-year sentence for his role in the tragedy off the Libyan coast that saw Italian forensic scientists spend months sorting through decomposed body parts to count the victims.

The men were ordered to pay nine million euros each in compensation.

Both had claimed they were simple migrants and had been made to steer the boat by the real traffickers.