Nine Egyptians have been arrested on suspicion of being people smugglers after the migrant boat disaster off Greece that claimed at least 78 lives, a port source told AFP. Among the detainees is the captain of the overloaded and dilapidated vessel. The source said the fishing boat left Egypt empty before taking on the migrants at the Libyan port city of Tobruk and heading towards Italy.
In another context, Spanish charity Open Arms said it rescued 117 migrants on Saturday crowded onto a precarious wooden boat from Libya in the latest such perilous crossing over the Mediterranean sea. Last week’s shipwreck off Greece, killing at least 78 among hundreds packed onto a fishing boat, has shone a light once again on the deaths of thousands of migrants each year fleeing poverty and conflict in Africa and the Middle East.
