Overview
- A Frontex patrol, which reached the boat Thursday south of Crete, rescued 26 survivors after their inflatable from Tobruk ran out of fuel and drifted for six days.
- Survivors told Greek authorities that 48 people had set out on March 21, and that at least 22 died from thirst and hunger, with bodies tossed overboard on a smuggler’s order.
- Greek police arrested two Sudanese men, aged 19 and 22, who are under investigation for negligent homicide and facilitating illegal entry.
- Passengers said they each paid about €9,000 for the crossing on a crowded, poorly equipped boat that lacked enough food, water, and navigation.
- Arrivals to Crete from Libya jumped to about 20,000 last year, and the International Organization for Migration warns many central Mediterranean deaths go uncounted.