Bodies of 16 Pakistanis recovered after Libyan boat incident: FO

Foreign Office (FO) Spokesperson Dr Mohammad Faisal said Saturday that the bodies of 16 Pakistanis have been recovered after a boat carrying migrants capsized near the Libyan coast in the early hours of Friday.

Foreign Office Spokesperson Dr Mohammad Faisal shared the names and details of the Pakistanis in a couple of tweets.

#boattragedylibya Sr no 1-8 dead bodies recovered and identified. Sr no 8-12 dead bodies recovered, identified by their friend but no ID found yet, Sr no 13-18 only ID documents found. Pak Embassy working round the clock. pic.twitter.com/m8gE0Lq8Bo

— Dr Mohammad Faisal (@DrMFaisal) February 3, 2018

Complete list of Pakistanis who lost their lives in Libya boat tragedy updated on mofa website https://t.co/lBbhN4A4x3

— Dr Mohammad Faisal (@DrMFaisal) February 3, 2018

On Friday, the spokesperson had said in a tweet that he would soon share the details of the Pakistani migrants after establishing communication with Tripoli, the capital of Libya.

Faisal also said that eight bodies have been identified with the help of documents while four others were identified with the help of their friends; though their documents were not yet found. He further said that the identity papers of six other individuals have also been retrieved in the rescue operations but the bodies were still missing.

All the victims belonged to different areas of the Punjab province, including, Mandi Bahauddin, Gujrat, Rawalpindi and Sargodha. Similar cases have also been reported in the past where people belonging to Punjab have lost their lives in an attempt to cross over into Europe in the hope of a better future.

Treacherous sea routes near Libyan coast

International Organisation for Migration (IOM) spokesperson Olivia Headon on Friday informed reporters about the incident after a boat carrying migrants capsized off the coast of Zuwara.

According to initial reports, at least 90 people were feared dead in the incident. Two survivors managed to save their lives by swimming to the shore while another was rescued by a fishing boat, reports added.

The Mediterranean Sea route that connects Libya with Italy is one of the most treacherous routes and poses extreme danger to the lives of the migrants. Nevertheless, the route accounts for around 65 per cent crossings into Europe. According to IOM, more than 6,600 migrants and refugees have managed to set foot in Europe since the beginning of this year.

16,000 lives claimed by sea in five years

Reports of boats capsizing and drownings started to emerge in 2013 after millions of refugees started fleeing the wars in the Middle East to start a new life in Europe.

According to an IOM estimate, around 16,000 people have lost their lives in the past five years while trying to cross over into Europe through the risky sea route. The agency also said that around 246 migrants and refugees have already died on the route since the beginning of this year. Around 218 people were also reported dead on the central route in the first month of this year while 28 people died on the western route that linked North Africa to Spain, IOM said.

On the other hand, zero fatalities have been reported this year from the Eastern Mediterranean route connecting Turkey and Greece, though the route was used by 1,089 people in January 2018.