CALABRIA: Italian police arrested three people they believe were trafficking up to 200 migrants whose boat crashed on rocks off the coast of southern Italy on Sunday, killing at least 64 people.
Also read: Migrant shipwreck in Italy: FIA launches human trafficking probe
Lt. Col. Alberto Lippolis said one Turk and two Pakistani nationals swam the boat from Turkey to Italy despite the terrible weather, calling them survivors “the main culprits of the tragedy.”
“According to initial investigations, they allegedly asked the migrants for about 8,000 euros ($8,485) each for the deadly journey,” said Lippolis, commander of a finance police team in the region of Calabria. “All three have been arrested.”
The latest reports put the death toll from the shipwreck at 64, including about 14 children. There were 80 survivors. They said there were between 150 and 200 migrants on the boat.
It emerged that the ship sailed from the port of Izmir in western Turkey late last week. Rescuers said most of the migrants came from Afghanistan, with the rest coming from Iran, Somalia and Syria.
Pakistan’s foreign ministry said 20 Pakistani nationals were on the ship, 16 of them survived but four were missing.
