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Pakistan Mourns Migrant Shipwreck Deaths As Greece Prosecutes Smugglers

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News

ISLAMABAD/ATHENS (Worthy News) – Pakistan was holding a day of mourning, and nine suspected human smugglers were to appear at a court in Greece after one of Europe’s worst migrant ship disasters killed hundreds, many of them Pakistanis.

The nine suspects are accused of piloting the fishing trawler that sank off the coast of Greece last week, leaving hundreds missing and presumed dead in the Mediterranean.

Greek authorities have said 78 dead and 104 survivors – mainly from Syria, Afghanistan, Egypt, and Pakistan – were brought ashore after the overcrowded boat sank about 50 miles (80 kilometers) off the southern Greek town of Pylos early on Wednesday.

The tragedy happened days after it set sail from Tobruk in Libya, heading towards Italy.

More than 500 people are believed missing, including many children, and relatives are still seeking information after the boat sank in one of the deepest parts of the Mediterranean.

However, the United Nations has called for an investigation into Greece’s handling of the disaster amid claims more action should have been taken earlier to initiate a full-scale rescue.

Britain’s BBC network said analysis “of the movement of other ships in the area suggests the overcrowded fishing vessel was not moving for at least seven hours before it capsized.”

GREEK COASTGUARD

Yet the Greek coastguard still claims that during these hours, the boat was on a course to Italy and did not need rescue.

The details added to the sorrow among relatives of survivors, including in Pakistan, where the nation plunged into mourning.

It underscored the dangers of unauthorized migration, and police in Pakistan-administered Kashmir said they had detained ten people involved in sending local youths to Libya for the onward journey to Europe.

Officials said nine people were detained in Kashmir and one in Gujrat, a city that has long served as a springboard for migrants. “They are presently under investigation for their involvement in facilitating the entire process,” Chaudhary Shaukat, a local official, said in published remarks.

The arrests came as ministers from France and Germany traveled to Tunisia on Sunday for talks on regulating migration and measures to try to prevent deaths on dangerous routes across the Mediterranean.

Tunisia is a major North African starting point for people trying to reach Europe. It is also a neighbor of Libya, where the sunken trawler set sail last week.

The International Organization for Migration and the U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR, said between 400 and 750 people were believed to have been onboard the vessel.

The U.N. agency said it could be the second deadliest refugee and migrant shipwreck recorded after the April 2015 capsizing of another vessel on the Libya-Italy route that killed an estimated 1,100 people.