ISLAMABAD: A high-level government team left for Morocco today to assess the situation and identify the Pakistanis who died in the migrant boat accident between Morocco and Mauritania in the Atlantic Ocean.
According to reports, 44 out of 65 Pakistani migrants on the boat either drowned or died, allegedly due to torture. Ten bodies have been recovered, and 19 people survived. Survivors and bodies are currently in Dakhla, a coastal town in Morocco.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has directed the dispatch of the team, which includes senior officials such as FIA Additional Director General (North) Muneer Maarth, Additional Secretary Interior Salman Chaudhary, and representatives from the Foreign Affairs Ministry and Intelligence Bureau. The team will visit Rabat and Dakhla to investigate and prepare a report for the prime minister.
The FIA has also filed three cases against human traffickers accused of illegally sending migrants abroad. These cases are linked to suspects in Gujrat and Sialkot districts.
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One complaint, filed in Sialkot, stated that local agents had charged Rs4 million each from victims for promises of employment in Europe. The victims were sent to Ethiopia via Dubai and then to Senegal and Mauritania, where they boarded the ill-fated ship.
Family members of the victims said most of the migrants were from villages in Gujrat, with only two survivors reported from a group of 28. Survivors shared details of their ordeal, alleging that traffickers demanded more money and killed several people daily, throwing the bodies into the sea.
One suspect arrested by the FIA is accused of collecting payments on behalf of her son, who was involved in trafficking.
