A Pakistani man who drowned with 12 colleagues when a boat that transported migrants caped from northwestern Africa was buried in his hometown on Thursday.
Each year, thousands of Pakistanis pay large sums to human traffickers for risky and illegal trips to Europe in search of work and better opportunities to support their families.
Unfortunately, Pakistanis are often among those who are drowning in overcrowded both on the Mediterranean, the world’s deadliest wandering route.
This week, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that 13 of its citizens were among the victims of a boat tragedy that took place in the Atlantic.
The boat, which had about 80 passengers on board, left Mauritania on the way to Spain’s Canary Islands. However, it hijacked near the western Sahara port in Dakhla on January 16.
On Thursday, Arslan Khan, one of four organs being repatriated from the crash, was laid to rest in the village of Mirza Virkan in eastern Punjab. His brother, Adnan Khan, shared heartache and said, “We sent Arslan to build a better future, and human trafficking assured us that he would send him legally. We sold our property and animals to his future, but the human trafficking betrayed us – he sent back our brother’s dead body. “
According to sources at the Pakistani Embassy in Morocco, the first reports on January 15 suggested that 44 Pakistanis had died in the boat accident. However, local authorities recovered only 13 bodies from the stage.
The Pakistani Embassy in Morocco cooperated with local officials to facilitate the identification process. Fingerprint data and photographs were shared with Nadra confirming the victims’ identity. Once the confirmation was completed, official lists were prepared and released.
The identified victims include:
Sufyan Ali (Son of Javed Iqbal) – Passport No. VF1812352
Sajjad Ali (Son of Muhammad Nawaz) – Passport No. XX1836111
Rais Afzal (Son of Muhammad Afzal) – Passport No. MJ1516091
Qasnain Haider (Son of Muhammad Banaras) – Passport No. AA6421773
Muhammad Waqas (Son of Sanaullah) – Passport No. DJ6315471
Muhammad Akram (Son of Ghulam Rasool) – Passport No. DN0151754
Muhammad Arsalan Khan (Son of Ramzan Khan) – Passport No. LM4153261
Hamid Shabbir (Son of Ghulam Shabbir) – Passport No. CZ5133683
Qaiser Iqbal (Son of Muhammad Iqbal) – Passport No. Gr1331413
Danish Rehman (Son of Muhammad Nawaz) – Passport No. SE9154371
Muhammad Sajawal (Son of Rahim Deen) – Passport No. Ay5593661
Shehzad Ahmed (Son of Wilayat Hussain) – Passport No. GN1162802
Ehtesham (Son of Tariq Mehmood) – Passport No. CE1170122
Pakistan has one of the highest emigration rates in the world where many migrants come from Punjab and Azad Jammu and Kashmir, where communities have many years of ties to Europe.
According to the United Nations International Organization for Migration, an estimated 40,000 Pakistanis are trying illegal migration every year.
In June 2023, the Mediterranean saw one of its deadliest shipwrecks when an overloaded trawler bearing more than 750 people, including up to 350 Pakistanis, sank. Only 82 bodies were recovered.
