The arrest of ten suspects for involvement in human trafficking after the death of dozens of migrants in a shipwreck off the Greek coast, the Pakistani authorities announced today.

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif ordered a crackdown on “those involved in the heinous crime of human trafficking” and vowed that the guilty would be “severely punished”, according to a statement from his office. Every year, thousands of young Pakistanis make the dangerous crossing to Europe where they attempt to enter illegally in search of a better life.

Pakistani migrants were on board the trawler that capsized and then sank within fifteen minutes off the Peloponnese on Wednesday morning, killing at least 78 people and leaving hundreds missing. Twelve Pakistanis are among the survivors, Pakistan’s foreign ministry said Saturday, although it did not know how many of its nationals were on board.

However, their number could exceed 200, said an immigration official who spoke on condition of anonymity. The estimated number of passengers on board the ill-fated ship is between 400 and 750, according to the International Organization for Migration and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

Nine people “involved in human trafficking operations” were arrested in Pakistan’s Kashmir, where most of the victims came from. Another was arrested in Gujarat, Punjab, a city that has long been a breeding ground for those who want to migrate.

Those arrested “are currently being investigated for their involvement in facilitating the whole process,” Chodari Shaukat, a Kashmir official, told AFP. Political unrest and an economy on the brink of collapse are pushing tens of thousands of Pakistanis out of the country, legally or illegally.

The young men, mainly from eastern Punjab and the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, often travel from Iran, Libya, Turkey and Greece to enter Europe illegally.