Pakistan mourns as hundreds of people die in a boat accident in Greece. It is suspected that hundreds of Pakistanis drowned last week when a refugee boat capsized off the coast of Greece, prompting a day of sorrow in their country.
Media reports indicate that 750 people were on the fishing boat when it drowned on Wednesday off the coast of the Peloponnese peninsula. Among the survivors, it was reported that more than a hundred Pakistanis were on board, along with dozens of Egyptians, Syrians, and Palestinians.
Officials say that approximately 100 people have been saved and that 78 bodies have been found. At least 12 Pakistanis, according to Pakistan’s foreign ministry, were among the rescued.
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On Saturday, the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) warned that while the exact number of people on the boat was unknown, estimates ranged from 400 to 750.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif declared Monday a day of national mourning on Sunday. He mandated the establishment of a high-level panel to look into the matter.
Over a dozen suspected human traffickers, who allegedly charge millions of rupees (thousands of dollars) to move citizens outside of Pakistan, have been arrested.
Three suspected traffickers, including a key suspect named Sajid Mehmood, were apprehended over the weekend, according to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA). An FIA official who spoke on the condition of anonymity said that Mehmood was apprehended Friday night at Karachi airport while he was attempting to exit the country.
The government representative remarked, “This is a significant development.” Ten alleged human traffickers have been apprehended, according to officials in Pakistan-administered Kashmir.
At least 23 people from Kashmir’s Kotli area went missing in the sinking, according to a senior official in the region named Chaudhry Shaukat Ali.
More than 400 refugees are estimated to have drowned in the central Mediterranean in the first three months of 2023, according to rescue organizations. The UNHCR published a report in April stating that this was the worst quarter at the world’s deadliest refugee crossing since 2017. The report indicated that the estimated number may be too low.
