An estimated 65 people were originally on board the migrant boat bound for Europe, reported the news agency Associated Press (AP). Emergency workers in Libya say they have already discovered the bodies of 16 Pakistani migrants, and at least ten others are believed to be missing, added the French news agency Agence France Presse (AFP).

"So far, 16 dead bodies have been recovered and their Pakistani nationalities established on the basis of their passports," confirmed a spokesperson for Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry, in a statement on February 11.

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has expressed deep grief and sorrow for those who have died, after they set off in a boat from the Libyan city of Zawiya.

The Pakistani Foreign Ministry has been ordered by Sharif, reported AP, to complete the process of identifying the victims and providing assistance to those affected. A team from the Pakistani embassy in Tripoli is already on site at the coastal city of Zawiya, to meet with local officials and those at the hospital, reported AFP.

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Crackdown on smuggling

"The Embassy in Tripoli is in the process of gathering further information and maintaining contact with the local authorities," a statement from the Foreign Ministry explained. The statement listed the 16 confirmed victims of the sinking so far, including names, passport numbers and place of origin in Pakistan.

The Pakistani government has also promised further crack downs against migrant smugglers who are responsible for many from Pakistan attempting routes via Africa towards Europe. The Pakistani news website Dawn reports that around 50 Federal Investigation Agency officials in Pakistan were recently "booked and dismissed from service over their alleged collusion with human smugglers in illegally sending Pakistanis abroad." Similarly, 65 FIA officials "were blacklisted for posting at any immigration check post."

As part of the government crackdown on smuggling, the FIA has introduced "rigorous screening" at all airports in Pakistan. In January at just one airport, Lahore, Dawn reported that 2,500 passengers were prevented from boarding after suspicions about migrant smuggling were raised.

Many of the victims came from province on Afghan border

According to reports on AP, most of those lost when the boat sank come from the province of Kurram, part of the northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on the border with Afghanistan. This area of Pakistan is rife with sectarian clashes and hundreds of people reportedly die every year in this type of conflict, the region is also poor.

"People try to travel to Europe through illegal means because of unemployment," explained a nephew of one of the reported victims on the boat. The nephew, named by AP as Javed Hussain, said he is the nephew of Shehzad Hussain, and that mourners were already gathering in the homes of families who believe they lost someone on board.

The Pakistani authorities have so far confirmed the deaths of 13 of its nationals in that incident. Hundreds of Pakistanis are thought to die every year in their attempt to reach Europe by land or sea routes, reports AP.

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Pakistanis increasingly reported as victims of drowning

The news of this sinking comes around a month after another boat, carrying similar numbers of Pakistanis, got into difficulty off the coast of West Africa, two weeks after it set off towards Spain’s Canary Islands archipelago in the Atlantic.

Conflicting reports about what happened to migrants on board the boat that sank off the coast of West Africa in January are still emerging. In some Pakistani news media, including the news website Dawn, some of those who survived have accused smugglers of killing at least 43 Pakistanis following a dispute over payment for the journey.

Groups of Pakistani migrants seem to be reported increasingly among those dying en route to Europe. The Pakistani news website Dawn reported this week that in December 2024, around 40 Pakistanis are thought to have died after boats capsized in Greek waters, although around 35 of those people are still missing, and their bodies not yet found.

In June 2023, in one of the deadliest sinkings, again off the coast of Greece, it is thought as many as 300 Pakistani nationals could have lost their lives in what has become known as the Pylos tragedy, due to where the overcrowded fishing boat from Libya eventually sank.

Earlier that year, in April 2023, dozens of Pakistanis are thought to have been among "dozens" who died in two separate migrant boat sinkings off the coast of western Libya, and in February that year, Pakistanis were among those killed after a wooden sailing boat crashed into rocks off the southern Italian coast, reported Dawn.

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Sent back to Libya

In 2024, the UN Migration Agency (IOM)’s Missing Migrants Project reported that 674 migrants died off Libya and more than 1,000 are still missing after attempting to cross the Mediterranean towards Europe.

More than 21,700 migrants were intercepted by the Libyan authorities over the course of 2024 and taken back to Libya. Reports from migrants, as well as international organizations and journalists suggest that many of those sent back to Libya are forced into indefinite detention and further cycles of violence and extortion before being offered the possibility of paying their way out of prison to attempt to cross the Mediterranean once again.

Many of the prisons, some run by government forces, and others by militias subject migrants to forced labor, beatings, rapes and even torture, confirmed UN-commissioned investigators in past reports.

With AFP, AP, Reuters

Contact information

The Pakistani Ministry of Foreign Affairs published the following information on February 10 for anyone who might have a query related to the incident, or might believe their relative could have been on board:

"The Crisis Management Unit of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been activated to monitor the situation. For any query related to this incident, the following numbers can be contacted:

Parep Tripoli

03052185882(WhatsApp)

+218913870577(Cell)

+218 91-6425435(WhatsApp)

Crisis Management Unit, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Islamabad

Phone No: 051-9207887

Email: cmu1@mofa.gov.pk "