14 suspects arrested in Pakistan over Greece boat disaster
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
At least 21 of those who died came from the Kotli district in Pakistan’s part of the Himalayan Kashmir region, a Pakistani police official said.
PHOTO: AFP
Follow topic:
MUZAFFARABAD – The Pakistani authorities have arrested 14 people in connection with the alleged trafficking of several migrants who drowned last week after their overloaded boat capsized in the sea off Greece
Hundreds of people, including many from Pakistan, are thought to have died when the vessel capsized and sank in one of Europe’s deadliest shipping disasters
The Pakistani government has ordered a high-level inquiry to investigate the human trafficking network thought to be involved, a statement from Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s office said.
Police official Riaz Mughal said that at least 21 of those who died were from the Kotli district in Pakistan’s part of the Himalayan Kashmir region. Two of the 12 Pakistanis who survived the sinking also came from the same town.
He added: “We learnt from two survivors, the arrested suspects and the bereaved families that the boat was carrying around 750 to 800 people.”
Senior regional police officer Tahir Mahmood Qureshi told Reuters: “We have already arrested 10 suspects who are part of a human trafficking network
He added: “We are hunting for more suspects.”
Some of them had already been traced and the police were conducting raids to arrest them, while others had gone into hiding, he added.
A senior official at Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency said that a further four people were arrested in the eastern Punjab province.
The fishing boat sank about 80km from the southern Greek town of Pylos.
The Greek authorities have said 104 survivors and 78 bodies of the dead were brought ashore in the immediate aftermath.
Hopes were fading
Most of the people on board the capsized boat were from Egypt, Syria and Pakistan, Greek government officials have said. REUTERS
