ISLAMABAD: Ten Pakistani victims of the June 14 shipwreck off Greece have been laid to rest after their bodies were repatriated to Pakistan, an official told Arab News on Friday, with several families still awaiting mortal remains of their loved ones.
A total of 104 men were rescued and 82 bodies were found after an aging fishing vessel carrying around 750 illegal migrants to Greece from Libya with majority of them from Pakistan, Syria and Egypt sank off the coast off Greece last month.
Pakistani authorities estimated that over 350 Pakistani nationals were aboard the ill-fated ship, while around 200 families have since provided their DNA samples to the Pakistani embassy in Greece to identify their loved ones in the morgues there. So far, 15 of the victims have been identified as Pakistani nationals.
Ten of these 15 bodies were repatriated to their home country on Thursday and they were laid to rest in their native towns, according to Asr Ejaz, a spokesperson for the Overseas Pakistanis Foundation that works for the welfare of around 9 million overseas Pakistanis and their families.
“Three other bodies will be repatriated on July 23 and two others on July 25,” Ejaz told Arab News. “The welfare department of the overseas foundation has been looking into the repatriation of the [rest of the] bodies from Greece.”
He said his organization was in touch with the Pakistani embassy in Greece to facilitate the process. “We are doing this to sympathize with the bereaved families,” Ejaz added.
The rusty trawler was carrying Pakistanis who were fleeing adverse economic conditions at home in search of a better life in Europe. Young men, primarily from eastern Punjab and northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, often use a route through Iran, Libya, Turkiye, and Greece to enter Europe.
Passengers on the ill-fated trawler had to subsist on meager supplies of food and water which ran out several hours before the disaster, according to survivor accounts.
Following the tragedy, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif vowed stern action against smugglers involved in the incident. The Pakistani authorities have since been cracking down on human smugglers and have arrested over a dozen suspects in raids primarily in Pakistan’s Punjab province.
