ISLAMABAD: Foreign Office Spokesperson Dr Muhammad Faisal on Sunday said that efforts were being made to bring back dead bodies of Pakistani citizens drowned in the latest migrant tragedy in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Libya.
“The tragedy happened off the coast of Zuwara on Wednesday, when a boat carrying 90 people capsized in the sea,” he said while addressing a news briefing about the incident.
The spokesperson said that 32 of total 90 people were Pakistani citizens and dead bodies of 13 Pakistani nationals had been identified. He said one Pakistan citizen had survived of the tragedy.
He said that four persons of a family were also amongst the ill-fated people. He said bodies of the husband and wife had been recovered, while only passport of their one child was found.
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Dr Muhammad Faisal said that the dead bodies were being kept in a cold environment for preservation purposes.
He said that the dead bodies of Pakistani nationals would be first transported to Tripoli and then to Pakistan for which our mission in Libya was taking appropriate steps.
“Requisite funds have been approved in this regard. The entire process can take up to seven days,” he said.
He said that identity documents of four people had also been found.
The FO spokesman said that those eight identified include Ikram-ul-Haque and Muammad Qasim Baigh from Mandi Bahauddin, Rehmat Khan, Muhammad Ismail, Azmat Bibi and Luqman Ali from Gujrat, Mirza Ghulam Fareed from Rawalpindi and Muhammad Aziz from Sarghdha.
He said those five identified by their friends include Muhammad Farhan and Muhammad Tanzil from Mandi Bahauddin and Kashif Jameel from Gujrat while the residency of two others Mr. Shah and Mr. Waleed is unknown.
He said that the documents of Kamran Iqbal, Zabiullah, Hamza Farooq and Saad Ali from Gujarat have been found.
Faisal said that Charge d’affaires at Pakistani embassy at Tripoli Muhammad Islam can be contacted for information. His contact numbers are 00218-91-9663346 and 00218-91-3402246 and WhatsApp number 0092-332-7968635.
He appealed to media to run public awareness campaign against the human smuggling in order to create awareness among the masses about the ill effects of illegal travel to other countries.
