A Pakistani Mohammad Akram reveals an image of his son Abu Bakar, one of many victims of a migrant boat that capsized in West Africa’s Atlantic shoreline, on his cellular phone at his residence, in Jura village, within the Lalamusa district in Pakistan, on Friday.
Ok.M. Chaudary/AP
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Ok.M. Chaudary/AP
ISLAMABAD — Greater than 40 Pakistanis have been feared to have drowned within the capsizing of a ship off West Africa’s Atlantic shoreline, which has emerged as a major level of departure for migrants aiming to succeed in Europe.
President Asif Ali Zardari expressed grief over the deaths and harassed the necessity for strict measures to curb human trafficking.
Zardari’s feedback in an announcement late Thursday got here after a Spain-based migrant rights group, Strolling Borders, stated that fifty individuals had died on their technique to the Canary Islands and that 44 of them have been Pakistanis. The group stated that the migrants started their journey on Jan. 2.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif additionally expressed his sorrow over the deaths.
Pakistan stated it had been knowledgeable by its embassy in Morocco {that a} boat carrying 80 passengers, together with some Pakistanis, had set off from Mauritania and capsized close to Dakhla, a Moroccan-controlled port metropolis within the disputed Western Sahara.
Virtually all of the Pakistanis who have been on the boat have been from cities within the jap Punjab province. Kinfolk have been gathering on the properties of the victims as a number of the survivors have been now in touch with their households, officers say.
In Dhola, a village in Gujrat district in Punjab, Ahsan Shehzad stated that his son, Sufyan Ali, died when the boat capsized. He stated that his son despatched a voice message to his cellphone by which he stated that the boat by which they have been touring was already overcrowded and 25 different individuals had forcibly boarded it.
He urged the federal government to make efforts to repatriate the physique of his son and a nephew who additionally died.
Mourners additionally gathered in Jurah, one other village in Gujrat, the place Muhammad Akram stated that he misplaced his son, Abu Bakar, within the boat capsizing. He stated that he paid thousands and thousands of rupees to a human trafficker to ship his son overseas. He stated his son went to Morocco by airplane, and he did not know that Bakar could be put in a ship for his subsequent journey.
In Daska, a metropolis within the Punjab, the household of two males stated they needed to promote property to rearrange thousands and thousands of rupees to pay human traffickers to ship Arslan Ahmed and Mohammad Arfan to Europe looking for good jobs.
Ahmed’s mom stated that though she had heard from the kin of a number of the survivors that her son was alive, she was nonetheless unable to contact him. Razia Bibi, the mom of Arfan, urged authorities to hint her son and produce him again.
Thousands and thousands of individuals migrate to Europe every year, the overwhelming majority utilizing authorized and common means. Fewer than 240,000 individuals crossed borders into the continent with out papers final yr, in line with the European Union’s border company Frontex.
As authorities have labored to forestall migration and smuggling from nations within the Mediterranean Sea, extra harmful routes have develop into more and more used. Frontex reported greater than 50,000 migrants made the journey from northwest Africa to Spain’s Canary Islands in 2024, together with 178 Pakistanis.
Strolling Borders stated in a report final week that 9,757 individuals had died or gone lacking attempting to cross to the islands, calling the route “the deadliest on the planet.”
The islands are roughly 65 miles (105 kilometers) from the closest level in Africa, however to keep away from safety forces, many migrants try longer journeys that may take days or perhaps weeks. The bulk final yr departed from Mauritania, which is at the very least 473 miles (762 kilometers) from the closest Canary Island, El Hierro.
Pakistan’s International Ministry stated a number of survivors, together with Pakistanis, are staying in a camp close to Dakhla. Pakistan’s Embassy in Morocco is in contact with native authorities and officers have gone to Dakhla to assist survivors, in line with a ministry assertion.
The ministry did not say what number of Pakistanis had died. Officers on the ministry weren’t instantly obtainable for touch upon Friday.
A whole lot of Pakistanis die yearly whereas attempting to succeed in Europe by land and sea with the assistance of human smugglers.
In 2023, an estimated 350 Pakistanis have been on board an overcrowded fishing boat carrying migrants that sank off Greece. Many perished in what was one of many deadliest incidents within the Mediterranean Sea.
Pakistan says it has launched a crackdown on human traffickers.
