Migrant vessel skipper gets seven years

(ANSA) - Palermo, May 24 - A juvenile court judge on Tuesday sentenced a 17-year-old Moroccan national to seven years in prison for aiding and abetting illegal immigration.
    The teen named as Mohammed Bougurra skippered a vessel on which 52 asylum seekers died of suffocation from engine exhaust after they were locked in the hold and not allowed up for air.
    The victims and 400 survivors - including 54 women and 67 minors - were rescued in the Strait of Sicily on August 26 last year by Swedish ship Poseidon, which was taking part in the EU's Triton patrol-and-rescue mission, and taken to Palermo.
    An ensuing investigation identified 10 skippers, including Bougurra. He will be tried for murder in separate proceedings, as will the other nine suspects.