ATHENS, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- A French national who was driving a speedboat that collided with a small fishing boat off a popular Greek resort on Friday evening, leaving behind two dead and one seriously injured, was arrested on Saturday, Greek national news agency AMNA reported.
The 44-year-old defendant had left the scene of the tragedy and appeared at the Greek Coast Guard premises of Porto Cheli in the eastern Peloponnese peninsula with his lawyer on Saturday.
He is still in a state of shock, the lawyer told local media.
The victims, two men aged 70 and 60, were brothers living in the area. The 60-year-old woman who was transferred to an Athens hospital in critical condition, was the second victim's twin, according to local news website "Argonafplia."
According to preliminary information, the ten meter inflatable speedboat with a total of 11 French nationals on board, including five minors, slammed into the wooden boat carrying the three siblings, at high speed, Greek Shipping Minister Yannis Plakiotakis told national broadcaster ERT on Saturday.
The Greek official pledged stricter measures to boost safety in the sea, stressing that inspections on speedboats and recreational boats have already increased lately.
Within two months this summer a total of 10,696 boats have been checked and 836 fines have been issued, he said.
In August 2016 four people lost their lives and 17 were injured when a speedboat operated by a 75-year-old Greek crashed onto a tourist boat off Aegina island.
On Friday a 32-year-old tourist was slightly injured by a speedboat near Glyfada's marina in the southern coast of Athens, according to an e-mailed press release by the Greek Coast Guard.
The 49-year-old Greek who was driving the speedboat was arrested. He had collected the injured swimmer and transferred him to the marina on his boat.
