Pylos

A cruise ship rescued 77 migrants found overnight in a sailboat in distress far off the southwestern coast of Greece and was transporting them to the nearest major port, Greek authorities said Tuesday.

Greek coastguard officers will testify as suspects as part of a disciplinary investigation into their role in a deadly migrant shipwreck off Greece, three sources told Reuters on Thursday.

Nine Egyptian nationals will stand trial Tuesday at Kalamata Three-Member Court of Appeal for Felonies, accused of smuggling in connection with the fishing boat that sank off the Peloponnesian town of Pylos last June.

Almost a year after the deadly shipwreck some 80 kilometers southwest of the town of Pylos in southern Greece, nine Egyptians will stand trial on Tuesday before a criminal appeal court in Kalamata.

According to the indictment, they allegedly took turns piloting the vessel, or were tasked with maintaining order. Two harbor guards have been named as witnesses.

At least 350 Pakistanis were on an overloaded boat that capsized and sank in open seas off Greece last week, Pakistan's Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah said on Friday.

The boat with a capacity of 400 people had over 700 people on board, he told the country's parliament, adding that a total of 281 Pakistani families had contacted the government to seek help.

Nine suspected people smugglers were granted on Monday 24 hours to prepare their testimony over accusations that they captained the fishing trawler that sank off the southern coast of Greece last week, killing 78 and leaving hundreds of others presumed dead.

Their attorneys asked for the brief extension to study the case file. 

Sixty-eight migrants found on Monday on a sailboat northwest of the coast of the small island of Leros, in southeastern Greece, were rescued and transferred to the island, state-run broadcaster ERT reported.

The migrants were picked up by a merchant ship that was sailing nearby and then by the Coast Guard that transferred them to Leros.

Twelve Pakistanis were among survivors from a boat packed with migrants that capsized off the coast of Greece this week, Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Saturday.

Ministry spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said the government was unable so far to verify the number of Pakistanis who died, or their identities.

Search operations continued on Saturday in the sea region 47 nautical miles southwest of the Greek town of Pylos, southwestern Peloponnese, where a fishing boat carrying migrants sunk on Wednesday, killing at least 78 people.

A Greek navy frigate, another three ships sailing by and a Hellenic Coast Guard helicopter are taking part in the operations.

Italy on Friday alerted Greece to a vessel holding dozens of migrants sailing off the southern coastal town of Pylos, two sources said, just two days after an overcrowded fishing boat sank nearby killing at least 78 people.