Over 40 Pakistanis are feared to have drowned when a migrant boat capsized off the coast of West Africa, an area that has become a key departure point for migrants trying to reach Europe, reports AP.
President Asif Ali Zardari expressed his sorrow over the tragedy and called for stronger measures to combat human trafficking.
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His remarks followed a statement from Spain-based migrant rights group, Walking Borders, which reported that 50 people died while en route to the Canary Islands, 44 of them from Pakistan. The migrants had embarked on their journey on January 2.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also conveyed his condolences. Pakistan's embassy in Morocco informed the government that a boat carrying 80 passengers, including several Pakistanis, had set off from Mauritania and capsized near Dakhla, a port city in the disputed Western Sahara.
Most of the Pakistanis onboard were from cities in Punjab’s eastern region. Families are gathering at the victims' homes, and some survivors have already contacted their relatives, according to officials.
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In Dhola, a village in Gujrat district, Ahsan Shehzad shared that his son, Sufyan Ali, died in the capsizing. Sufyan had sent a voice message revealing that the boat was overcrowded, with 25 additional people boarding forcibly. Shehzad appealed for the repatriation of his son's and nephew's bodies.
In Jurah, another village in Gujrat, Muhammad Akram lost his son, Abu Bakar, in the disaster. Akram had paid millions to a human trafficker to send his son abroad, unaware that Bakar would be placed on a boat for the next leg of his journey.
In Daska, a city in Punjab, the families of Arslan Ahmed and Mohammad Arfan had to sell property to fund the human traffickers sending their sons to Europe. Ahmed's mother, though hearing from relatives of survivors that her son might be alive, still had no contact with him. Razia Bibi, Arfan’s mother, called for authorities to locate her son and bring him home.
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Millions migrate to Europe each year, most through legal channels, but around 240,000 people crossed borders illegally last year, according to Frontex, the EU’s border agency. As authorities have cracked down on Mediterranean migration and smuggling, more dangerous routes, such as from northwest Africa to Spain's Canary Islands, are being used.
Frontex reported that more than 50,000 migrants made the journey to the islands in 2024, including 178 Pakistanis. Walking Borders called this route "the deadliest in the world," noting that 9,757 people had died or gone missing trying to make the crossing.
The Canary Islands are approximately 65 miles from Africa's closest point, but many migrants take longer, riskier routes to avoid detection, with Mauritania being the primary departure point. The Foreign Ministry of Pakistan confirmed that several survivors, including Pakistanis, are currently in a camp near Dakhla, and the embassy in Morocco is working with local authorities to assist them.
The ministry did not provide a specific number of Pakistanis who died in the incident, and officials were unavailable for comment. Hundreds of Pakistanis die every year attempting to reach Europe with the help of human traffickers.
In 2023, around 350 Pakistanis died when an overcrowded boat sank off Greece in one of the Mediterranean’s deadliest incidents. Pakistan has since launched a crackdown on human traffickers.