Migrants continue to arrive on Crete, and Greek coast guard authorities have arrested three people accused of piloting their boats from the Libyan coast. All three are South Sudanese nationals: two 16-year-olds and an 18-year-old.
According to a Hellenic Coast Guard statement, a total of 169 migrants were found in three separate operations around Heraklion on October 12 and 13.
On the evening of October 12, 51 people were rescued at sea 57 nautical miles southeast of Kali Limenes. Authorities arrested a 16-year-old whom the other passengers identified as their smuggler. The survivors said they had left Tobruk, Libya, in the early hours of October 10, each paying between 500 and 2,000 dollars for the crossing to Greece.
Early on October 13, another 63 migrants were found on a beach near the village of Arvi, in the municipality of Viannos. An 18-year-old was arrested after the group identified him as the person in charge of the voyage. The migrants said they had departed from Bardia, Libya, on October 11, paying between 13,000 and 15,000 Libyan dinars each.
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By midday, a third group of 55 people had been located near the Monastery of Koudoumas, in the municipality of Gortyna. The coast guard arrested another 16-year-old, whom the other migrants named as their smuggler. The group reportedly set out from Musaid, Libya, early on October 11, paying between 1,000 and 4,000 dollars each for the journey.