Authorities in Greece have detained nine suspected smugglers in connection with the deadly sinking of a migrant boat on Tuesday wherein over 80 persons died and up to 600 went missing.
Relatives of people who were on board the dilapidated vessel have been gathering in the port city of Kalamata, hoping to find family members.
More than 100 persons were rescued around Pylos in southern Greece with unconfirmed reports stating that many of them were children.
The nine were rounded up from the port of Kalamata where the survivors are being attended to, at the moment.
Reports indicate that their arrest came after two days of questioning the survivors, “cross-referencing the information and honing down the possibilities of who among the survivors might have been part of the trafficking ring that profited from this enterprise and the profits are enormous.”
The publication stated that going by the assessment of one of the migrants on the boat, everyone on board paid at least $4,000 to $5,000 to undertake the risky trip.
The boat was spotted in international waters late on Tuesday by an aircraft that belonged to the European Union border agency Frontex.