The Greek coast guard on June 15 arrested nine suspects in connection with the migrant boat accident off the coast of Greece early on June 14, which killed at least 78 people.
According to Greek news agency AMNA, the nine arrested were among the 104 people rescued in the recent disaster and were all Egyptian nationals.
It is still unclear exactly how many people were on board when the ship capsized and sank 47 nautical miles off the southwestern Greek town of Pylos. A European rescue agency said there could be up to 750 people on board, while the UN's International Organization for Migration said initial reports suggested there were about 400 people on board. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said hundreds of people could still be missing.
The search operation has not found any bodies in more than 24 hours and the victims' remains have been taken to a cemetery near Athens for DNA testing. Greek government sources said the chances of retrieving the sunken ship were slim due to the depth of the water.
Survivors said they set off from Libya and were headed to Italy.
Greek officials said that after receiving a notification from Italian authorities about the location of the migrant-laden boat, Greece did not want to intervene by force to tow the boat to a Greek port because of concerns that the overloaded boat might capsize. The sudden change in weight as passengers crammed around the boat could have caused the boat to capsize and sink a few hours later.
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