ISLAMABAD – A vessel carrying approximately 65 passengers, including Pakistan nationals, capsized near the port of Marsa Dela, North West of Zawiya city, Libya.
The Foreign Office (FO) has issued a statement, stating that it has received information about the incident from Pakistan Embassy in Tripoli.
“The Pakistan Embassy in Tripoli has immediately dispatched a team to Zawiya hospital to assist the local authorities in identification of the deceased. The Embassy is also trying to ascertain further details of the Pakistani affectees,” read the statement.
“The Crisis Management Unit of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been activated to monitor the situation.
Over three dozen Pakistanis were dead last month, January 2025, after boat capsized off the Atlantic coast of West Africa near Morocco, while 21 Pakistani nationals survived the incident.
Out of the dead, only 13 bodies were found during operation. So far, eight out of 13 bodies have been repatriated, while the remaining five are expected to be transported next week.
Seven of the survivors, who were brought back to Pakistan, narrated harrowing ordeal. Survivors revealed that they were subjected to brutal torture by human traffickers before being forced onto the ill-fated boat.
Meanwhile, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has launched a crackdown against miscreants involved in human trafficking.
