ISLAMABAD: The Foreign Office (FO) on Tuesday confirmed that four Pakistani nationals were among the 11 migrants who drowned after a vessel sank near the Harawa coast, close to Sirte city in eastern Libya.
In a statement, the FO said the Pakistan embassy in Tripoli verified the recovery of 11 bodies following the shipwreck, with identification documents confirming the nationality of four victims as Pakistani. Two bodies remain unidentified, while the nationalities of the remaining five have not yet been disclosed.
The Foreign Office did not provide specific details about the timing of the incident but stated that the Pakistani embassy in Tripoli was actively engaged with local authorities to gather further information and assist the victims’ families.
“The Crisis Management Unit of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been activated to monitor the situation,” the statement read. Citizens seeking information have been advised to contact the unit via phone (051-9207887) or email ([email protected]). Additionally, embassy officials in Tripoli, Ashfaque Ali and Hassan Saleem, are available at +92-305-2185882 and +218-91-8644064.
The tragic incident is the latest in a series of migrant boat disasters involving Pakistani nationals. In February, dozens of Pakistanis were feared dead when a vessel carrying 65 migrants capsized near Zawiya city, Libya. Similar incidents in Morocco, Greece, and Italy over the past year have claimed hundreds of Pakistani lives, highlighting the growing dangers of irregular migration.
In response, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has intensified screening at airports, offloading 2,500 passengers in January alone at Lahore airport. Over 100 FIA personnel have been dismissed or blacklisted for alleged involvement in human smuggling networks.
