Remains of four more Pakistanis retrieved in Greek boat mishap

GUJRANWALA: The remains of four more Pakistanis have been recovered who died in the Greek boat tragedy last month, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) said on Wednesday.

With the total number of recovered bodies rose to nine, deceased have been identified as Shabbir, Zain Ali and Zeeshan — all three hailing from Narowal — whereas the fourth individual has been identified as Sialkot's Owais Ali.

With the bodies shifted to a hospital in Athens from the Greek island Gavdos, the agency said, adding that the Pakistani embassy was making arrangements to send the remains to Pakistan, however, this may take another week.

The development comes as more than 80 Pakistanis had drowned after boats carrying them capsized near Greece on the night between December 13 and 14. Although, as many as 36 Pakistani citizens were rescued, the rest still remain missing which, as per a report from the Pakistani Embassy, should be presumed dead.

The boats, which departed from Libya's Tobruk port also carried Bangladeshi, Egyptian and Sudanese nationals.

The incident warranted a strong response from the government with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif ordering ordered stern action against human smugglers as well as FIA officials who were found involved in facilitating them.

Presiding over a meeting in Islamabad on the matter of human trafficking prevention on December 20, the premier instructed the authorities concerned to complete the ongoing probe into the human trafficking issue at the earliest and submit concrete recommendations.

With the discovery of five more bodies, the number of missing Pakistanis stands at 40, said the investigation agency.

It is pertinent to know that as per official sources, there are still over 5,000 Pakistanis in Libya who are ready to travel to Europe while being accompanied by several Libyan and Pakistani agents. The sources said they obtained visas from Pakistan and arrived in Libya legally.