Greece: Nine persons arrested for smuggling people after boat capsizes

Athens [Greece], June 16 : Following a crowded ship's sinking in the Mediterranean on Wednesday, nine crew members have been detained for people smuggling, killing dozens of people, reported CNN.

The people human rights campaigners accused Greek authorities of neglecting those on board.

According to CNN, according to the Greek coastguard, nine Egyptian nationals between the ages of 20 and 40 were also detained on suspicion of establishing a criminal organisation, manslaughter by negligence, exposing themselves to risk, and causing a shipwreck.

The boat capsized off the coast of Greece while it was sailing from the Libyan coastal city of Tobruk to Italy.

There have been at least 78 fatalities, however, some accounts put the number as high as 750.

The Greek coastguard said on Wednesday that the vessel sank in international waters, 47 nautical miles southwest of Pylos, off the Peloponnese coast.

Four of the survivors were hospitalised in the city of Kalamata with symptoms of hypothermia. Dozens of others were taken to sheltered areas in the city that were set up by the ambulance services and the United Nations Refugee Agency to receive dry clothes and medical attention.

According to Coastguard authorities speaking to CNN, the arrests came after two days of questioning at Kalamata, a port city in southern Greece, where 104 shipwreck survivors were temporarily housed before being transferred to a facility close to Athens on Friday, CNN reported.

The nine people who are arrested over the migrant boat tragedy are expected to appear before a local magistrate on Monday next week.