14 suspects arrested in Pakistan over Greece boat disaster

AFP

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, police said.

Hundreds of people, including from Pakistan, are thought to have died when the vessel capsized and sank in one of Europe's deadliest shipping disasters in recent years.

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.

"My thoughts and prayers are with the bereaved families who lost their loved ones," Sharif added.

At least 21 of those who died came from the Kotli district in Pakistan's part of the Himalayan Kashmir region, police official Riaz Mughal said. Two of the 12 Pakistanis, who survived, also came from the same town.

"We have already arrested 10 suspects who are part of a human trafficking network that sent these people to Europe," senior regional police officer Tahir Mahmood Qureshi told Reuters. "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 further four people were arrested in the eastern Punjab province, a senior official at Pakistan's Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) said.

Witness accounts suggest that between 400 and 750 people were packed on to the fishing boat that sank about 80 km from the southern Greek town of Pylos.

Greek authorities have said 104 survivors and 78 bodies of the dead were brought ashore in the immediate aftermath. Hopes were fading of finding any more people alive.

Most of the people on board the capsized boat were from Egypt, Syria and Pakistan, Greek government officials have said.

More from International news

  • Israeli attacks on Gaza killed 60 people in 24 hours

    Israeli occupation forces committed multiple massacres against families in the Gaza Strip over the past 24 hours, resulting in the killing of at least 60 Palestinians and the injury of 162 others, according to medical reports.

  • Trump fires National Security Agency director

    U.S. President Donald Trump fired General Timothy Haugh as director of the National Security Agency on Thursday, according to two officials familiar with the decision, and congressional Democrats denounced the removal of the nonpartisan official from a top security post.

  • Israel steps up Syria strikes, says Turkey aims for 'protectorate'

    Israel stepped up airstrikes on Syria, declaring the attacks a warning to the new rulers in Damascus as it accused their ally Turkey of trying to turn the country into a Turkish protectorate.

  • US sending Israel 20,000 assault rifles that Biden delayed

    The Trump administration moved forward with the sale of more than 20,000 US-made assault rifles to Israel last month, according to a document seen by Reuters, pushing ahead with a sale that the administration of former president Joe Biden had delayed.

News

  • UAE shines in global competitiveness rankings for 2025

    The UAE has maintained its rising performance in the global competitiveness race during the first quarter of 2025 by achieving advanced positions in many relevant international and regional indicators and reports.

  • UAE President marks Senegal independence day

    President His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan has sent a message of congratulations to President Bassirou Diomaye Faye of Senegal on the occasion of his country's Independence Day.

  • UAE expands cancer prevention plan

    The Ministry of Health and Prevention (MoHAP) has reaffirmed its commitment to reducing the incidence of cervical cancer and other HPV-related diseases through a proactive national strategy.