Pakistani authorities said on Friday that more than 2,000 of its nationals who tried to travel to Italy illegally are being held in Libyan prisons.

Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah has assured that the government would take strict action against Greece boat tragedy and an investigation report would be submitted within a week by duly fixing responsibility on those involved in negligence.

Last week, a migrant boat launched from the coast of Tobruk with at least 800 people on board, including hundreds of Pakistanis, sank off Greece. Only 104 people are known to have survived.

On Thursday, Pakistani security services announced the arrest of suspected human traffickers involved in smuggling people into Libya, including those who died in a shipwreck earlier this year.

Investigations also revealed that 90% of the people on the boat obtained either a work permit or a travel visa to Libya, traveled there from Karachi via Dubai, and paid agents who facilitated their paperwork.