ISLAMABAD: Several Pakistani nationals are feared missing after a migrant boat capsized in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Italy, according to international media reports.
Italy’s AGI news agency reported that two migrants had died, while 14 others were in critical condition after Italian tax police intercepted a vessel carrying 85 people from Pakistan, Eritrea, and Somalia. The identities of the deceased have not yet been confirmed by authorities.
The injured migrants and the bodies were transferred onto two Coast Guard ships, 16 nautical miles off Lampedusa’s coast, before being taken to hospitals for treatment, AGI reported.
According to UNICEF official Nicola Dell’Arciprete, the Italian Coast Guard rescued 11 migrants, including four unaccompanied children, and recovered the body of a pregnant woman. The survivors were taken to Lampedusa, while the remaining passengers are still missing.
In a separate incident, another migrant boat carrying about 35 people sailing from Libya capsized in the central Mediterranean, leaving one person confirmed dead and more than two dozen missing, UNICEF’s country coordinator for Italy said.
The official said the boat had been at sea for two days before it overturned.
Earlier this year also, 16 Pakistani nationals had died while 37 survived when a boat, which was carrying 65 people, capsized in the Mediterranean Sea near the coast of Tripoli.
Amid the rising crisis of human smuggling, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had directed the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to intensify its crackdown on traffickers.
Following the premier’s orders, the FIA has launched a countrywide operation against human smuggling networks.
Recent reports suggest that several notorious trafficking rings have been dismantled, while more than 60 FIA officials accused of colluding with smugglers have been dismissed from service.
