The Greek authorities arrested nine survivors of the shipwreck off the Greek coast on Thursday. They are suspected of membership of a smuggling gang, among other things. This is reported by the Greek coastguard, according to international news agencies. According to the channel ERT TV all suspects have Egyptian nationality.
The boat with migrants sank in the night from Tuesday to Wednesday. To learn more about the circumstances of the tragedy, authorities are questioning survivors in the city of Kalamata. There, 104 survivors came ashore. After the rescue operation, a death toll of 78 was communicated. All the bodies recovered were of men and boys. The death toll was later revised to 79.
The death toll is expected to continue to rise. It is unclear how many people are still missing. According to witnesses there were at least 750 people on board, and many people were in the hold of the ship. The fishing boat has not yet been found.
Greek media report that the ship left Egypt empty for eastern Libya. There, the old fishing boat would have picked up hundreds of migrants to set course for Italy. The ship ran into problems off the Greek coast. The captain is said to have left the ship via a small boat. It is unclear whether the captain of the ship is among those arrested. According to AFP news agency, this is the case, but Greek media report that he has drowned.
A Greek Coast Guard boat escorted the trawler for hours, but did nothing to save the ship. According to the coastguard itself, because the people on board had refused help and wanted to sail on to Italy. Alarm Phone, a network of activists that run a hotline for migrant boats in distress, disputes that, claiming that the people on board did ask for help.
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