Boat with 80 passengers, including several Pakistanis, capsizes near Morocco: FO

The Foreign Office (FO) said on Thursday that a boat carrying 80 passengers capsized near Morocco, with over 40 Pakistanis reportedly among the dead.

Migrant rights group Walking Borders said as many as 50 migrants may have drowned in the latest deadly wreck involving people trying to make the crossing from West Africa to Spain’s Canary Islands,

Moroccan authorities rescued 36 people a day ago from a boat that had left Mauritania on January 2 with 86 migrants, including 66 Pakistanis, on board, the group said.

Forty-four of those presumed to have drowned were from Pakistan, Walking Borders CEO Helena Maleno said on X.

“They spent 13 days of anguish on the crossing without anyone coming to rescue them,” she said.

A FO press release issued today said the Pakistani embassy in Rabat had informed the ministry about the incident.

“Several survivors, including Pakistanis, are lodged in a camp near Dakhla. Our embassy of Rabat is in touch with local authorities. Additionally, a team from the embassy has been dispatched to Dakhla to facilitate the Pakistani nationals and provide necessary assistance.”

The FO said its Crisis Management Unit was activated and Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar instructed government agencies to extend all possible facilitation to the affected Pakistanis.

It said the CMU could be contacted at (051-9207887) or (cmu1@mofa.gov.pk) while Acting Ambassador Rabia Kasuri and Consular Assistant Noman Ali at the Rabat embassy could be contacted at (+212 689 52 23 65) and (+92 310 2204672), respectively, on WhatsApp.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif sought a report on the incident from authorities and said strict action would be taken against those involved in the heinous act of human trafficking.

“No negligence of any kind will be tolerated in this regard. Strong steps are being taken against human trafficking,” he said in a statement.

A statement issued by the PPP said President Asif Ali Zardari also expressed grief on the deaths of over 40 Pakistanis and stressed the need for effective and far-reaching measures to prevent human trafficking.

Asked about what warnings it had received from NGOs regarding a missing boat, Spain’s maritime rescue service said it had learned on Jan 10 about a vessel that had left Nouakchott in Mauritania and was experiencing problems but it could not confirm if it was the same boat.

The service said it had carried out air searches without success and had warned nearby ships.

Walking Borders said it had alerted authorities from all countries involved six days ago about the missing boat. Alarm Phone, an NGO that provides an emergency phone line for migrants lost at sea, also said it had alerted Spain’s maritime rescue service on Jan 12 about a boat in distress.

A record 10,457 migrants, or 30 people a day, died trying to reach Spain in 2024, most while attempting to cross the Atlantic route from West African countries such as Mauritania and Senegal to the Canary Islands, according to Walking Borders.

Citing the Walking Borders’ post on X, the Canary Islands’ regional leader Fernando Clavijo expressed his sorrow for the victims of the latest wreck and urged Spain and Europe to act to prevent further tragedies.

“The Atlantic cannot continue to be the graveyard of Africa,” Clavijo said on X. “They cannot continue to turn their backs on this humanitarian drama.”

Last month, several Pakistanis died in a boat capsizing incident in Greece. As per the estimate, more than 80 Pakistanis drowned in the accident, 36 of whom were rescued. The remaining have been presumed dead.

More than 30 Federal Investigation Agency officers have been booked and dismissed from service over their alleged collusion with human smugglers in illegally sending Pakistanis abroad.

In June 2023, hundreds of migrants drowned when an overcrowded vessel capsized and sank in international waters off the southwestern Greek coastal town of Pylos. It was one of the deadliest boat disasters ever in the Mediterranean Sea and there were at least 209 Pakistanis on the boat.

In April of the same year, Pakistanis were among dozens dead as two migrant boats sank in the Mediterranean off different towns in western Libya.

Previously in February 2023, Pakistanis were among 59 people killed when a wooden sailing boat carrying migrants crashed against rocks on the southern Italian coast.