ISLAMABAD – Foreign Office of Pakistan Sunday said that 32 Pakistaninationals were aboard the ship that wrecked off Libya coast on January 31.”There were 32 Pakistanis among 80 to 90 people aboard the boat,” FOspokesman Dr Mohammad Faisal told newsmen during a press briefing here.
He said that officials of the Pakistani mission reached the site on thesame day, adding that human smugglers were trying to illegally take thepassengers in the boat to Europe.
Faisal said information on the deceased [Pakistani] citizens is availableon the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, adding that four of thedeceased Pakistanis have yet to be identified.
“Efforts are being made to bring bodies of deceased Pakistani citizens, forwhich funds have been provided to the embassy,” the spokesman said.
Earlier on Saturday, Faisal confirmed that 16 Pakistanis died in theshipwreck.
The International Organisation for Migration believes the incident did nottake place due to inclement weather as the sea was calm.
“We know that the weather was calm, so that’s indicating that the smugglers- who are cavalier to say the least – have hugely overloaded this vessel,”Al Jazeera quoted IOM’s Leonard Doyle as saying.
“We need to get the word out to people, desperate people around the world,who think they are coming to a better life and they are reading about it onsocial media, that it’s not the case.”
The people whose bodies have been recovered belonged to Mandi Bahauddin,Gujrat, Rawalpindi and Sargodha areas of Punjab in Pakistan. Previously, anumber of similar cases have occurred in which people — mostly from thementioned areas of Punjab — have lost their lives en route to illegallysneaking into another country.
In November 2017, over a dozen bodies were found in Turbat, Balochistanfrom where people, mainly from different areas of Punjab, were trying toillegally cross the border into Iran so as to reach Europe from there forbetter employment opportunities.
At least 90 people were feared dead in the Mediterranean Sea as they triedto undertake the treacherous journey in search of employment.
A boat carrying the migrants capsized off the coast of Zuwara in the earlyhours Friday, IOM spokesperson Olivia Headon confirmed to reporters inGeneva by phone from Tunis.
“At least 90 migrants are reported to have drowned, when a boat capsizedoff the coast of Libya this morning”, the agency had added in a statement.
Two survivors from the disaster had swum to shore, while another wasrescued by a fishing boat, it had stated.
The agency has repeatedly issued warnings over the extreme dangers facingmigrants who try to reach Europe via the so-called central Mediterraneanroute, which connects Libya to Italy.
IOM had said on Friday that more than 6,600 migrants and refugees hadalready entered Europe by sea since the beginning of the year, with centralMediterranean route crossings to Italy accounting for nearly 65% of theentries.
Drownings in the Mediterranean began surging in 2013 as Europe’s worstmigration crisis since World War II began picking up speed, with hundredsof thousands of people fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East andelsewhere.
Over the past five years, more than 16,000 people have died trying to makethe perilous crossing to Europe, according to IOM numbers.
Excluding Friday’s tragedy, 246 migrants and refugees have already diedtrying to cross the Mediterranean since the beginning of the year, comparedto 254 casualties during the first month of 201.
Two hundred and eighteen of those deaths occurred on the central route in2018, IOM said, while 28 happened on the western route that links NorthAfrica to Spain.
Meanwhile, on the eastern Mediterranean route that connects Turkey andGreece, used by 1,089 so far this year, no fatalities have yet beenrecorded in 2018.
The EU last year reached controversial agreements with chaos-wracked Libyato stem the flow of migrants from that country, following a morecomprehensive deal with Turkey in 2016, which sharply reduced the numberscrossing to Greece.
Casualties in the eastern Mediterranean have dropped dramatically sincethen.
In the 22 months since the deal with Turkey was reached in April 2016,fatalities on that route have fallen to an average of 6.75 per month, from96.25 per month during the year prior to the agreement, IOM said.