A JUDGE in Greece acquitted nine Egyptian men today accused of causing the deaths of hundreds of people in one of the worst refugee shipwrecks in Europe in recent years.

A seriously overcrowded fishing boat carrying around 750 people — mainly from Pakistan, Syria and Egypt — sank 45 miles off the coast of the south-western town of Pylos on June 13 2023.

The Greek maritime authorities and the European Border and Coastguard Agency (Frontex) were aware of the ship and the state it was in the day prior.