Portuguese court to drop proceedings over students missing at sea

The examining magistrate of the court of Setubal, south of Lisbon, said on Wednesday he would drop proceedings over six students who died last year at Meco beach, a small village south of Portugal, following hazing allegations.

"They were all adults, and they were there because they wanted to be," judge Nelson Escorcio said, according to local media.

"It can be concluded, from the exchange in messages, that the victims liked taking part in those rituals," he added.

The Portuguese authorities have been struggling to determine the exact circumstances surrounding the death of the six university students at the beach in December last year.

The judge said on Wednesday that a seventh student who was the sole survivor would not go to trial.

Portuguese newspaper Publico reported that the families of the victims would appeal to the European Court of Human Rights to take the case further. Endit