disaster off the greek coast. a bbc investigation has found evidence that casts doubt on the greek coastguard s account of its response to the migrant ship, which sank last week with the loss of hundreds of lives. the ship sank about 50 miles off the southern coast of greece and survivors were taken to kalamata. an analysis of the movements of other ships in the area suggests the overcrowded fishing vessel wasn t moving for seven hours before it capsized. the greek coastguard claims that during this time, the vessel was on its way to italy and didn t need to be rescued. the greek authorities have not yet responded to the bbc s findings. our europe correspondent nick beake is in kalamata in greece. the greek coastguard has faced heavy criticism for not doing more to help those people on board. its main justification has been that they did not want their help and that, crucially, the boat was moving in a steady direction towards italy. now, what we ve tried to do is piece toget
we are shocked like everyone in greece, obviously. after we were informed of this incident, all services were mobilised. the municipality of kalamata we have prepared. we are hearing that, unfortunately, the number of dead is increasing. our europe correspondent nick beake is in athens and has this update. we don t know the scale of this disaster tonight, but it s clear it is bad. more than 100 people have been rescued, but survivors are saying that up to 700 people, they believe, were on board this fishing boat. it set off reportedly from libya and was heading to italy. an image has emerged showing the vessel packed with people in the deepest part of the mediterranean. no one, it would seem, had a life jacket on. the greek authorities have said tonight that they went towards the vessel and that no one wanted help when they offered it. but that has been challenged by an organisation which provides an emergency phone number for people at sea, and it says, in fact, the authorit
that s nick bea ke that s nick beake there in greece. in pakistan, a day of mourning is being observed for the pakistani nationals who were on the boat and are now among the dead and missing. the country s prime minister has called for immediate action against people traffickers. officials in islamabad say they ve arrested several people including an alleged smuggler from pakistani administered kashmir. and in greece itself, nine men suspected of people smuggling are due to appear in court later on monday. 0ur south asia regional editor anbarasan ethirajan has more. many families are waiting for answers, because a significant number of pakistani youths were thought to be aboard that disaster prone boat where many people are still missing. 0ne father was telling the local media how the human traffickers were luring his son with the promise
of the continent. and with us going further into the summer, with the weather being good, the fear is that many more people will attempt this perilous crossing. that s nick bea ke that s nick beake there in athens. now let s take a look at some other stories in the headlines. italy has said a final goodbye to former prime minister silvio berlusconi. his state funeral was held in milan on wednesday. it was attended by his political allies, opponents and members of his family. the billionaire media tycoon and scandal ridden politician dominated italian public life for decades. the us central bank has left interest rates unchanged for the first time in more than a year, atjust over 5%. but the federal reserve cautioned that it was too soon to say that inflation in the country would continue to retreat, despite encouraging figures a day earlier. and members of the european parliament have approved a draught voluntary code