A Syrian boat captain was imprisoned for three years after he was found guilty by the Famagusta criminal court for causing the death by negligence of a three-year-old girl, also from Syria, the legal service said on Friday.

The highest penalty provided by law is four years or a €4,250 fine.

According to the legal service, on January 18, 2024, a wooden boat sailed from Lebanon for Cyprus, with 60 Syrian migrants on board.

The court heard that the Syrian who had been appointed captain of the vessel had failed to guarantee the safety of his passengers on the overloaded boat, which was anyway not seaworthy for such a trip.

The boat was not equipped with the necessary navigation or sailing instruments, or any rescue and communication devices, medical supplies or adequate water and food for the number of passengers it was carrying.

The Syrian has also ordered the passengers to throw the remaining bottled water overboard, so that there would be no trace of where the boat sailed from.

Consequently, when the boat’s engine broke down during the voyage, it sailed for six days rudderless, helpless, exposed to adverse weather conditions, without orientation, food and drinking water for the passengers, most of whom began drinking their urine and seawater, the court heard.

Once the boat was detected by the Cyprus coast guard, six children onboard were treated in hospitals across the island.

Authorities found three children and one man were unconscious, while another three individuals had fractures in their lower limbs.

Two days later it was announced that the girl had died while being treated at the Makarios hospital in Nicosia.

State Health Services (Okypy) spokesman Charalambos Charilaou said at the time she had died following a sudden cardiac arrest