FIA begins human trafficking investigation following boat tragedy

The agency has also started contacting heirs of the deceased

LAHORE (Web Desk) - The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has begun an investigation into the involvement of human traff­ickers in sending illegal migrants aboard who drowned off the coast in southern Italy on Sunday.

A boat carrying 20 Pakistani migrants sank off the coast in southern Italy. In addition, the death toll from the incident incr­e­a­sed to 62 on Monday with the majority of victims feared to be Pakistanis.

According to an FIA's statement, teams have been constituted to probe the matter and arrest the traffickers who had illegally sent the victims.

The agency has also started contacting heirs of the deceased, most of whom hailed from Punjab’s Gujrat district. 

-- Pak embassy in Italy pursues case --

Pakistan's embassy in Italy continued to vigorously follow the case of Pakistanis aboard the vessel that capsized off the coast of Italy on Sunday, according to the Foreign Office.

A senior Embassy official today met 16 Pakistani survivors of capsized vessel. They seemed in good physical condition. According to them there were 20 Pakistanis on the ship. Embassy is in close contact with Italian authorities to verify status of the 4 missing Pakistanis. (2/2)

— Spokesperson MoFA (@ForeignOfficePk) February 27, 2023

In tweets on social media platform Twitter, the Foreign Office said, “A senior Embassy official today met 16 Pakistani survivors of capsized vessel. They seemed in good physical condition.

According to them there were 20 Pakistanis on the ship. Embassy is in close contact with Italian authorities to verify status of the 4 missing Pakistanis.”

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday termed the reports of the drowning of over two dozen Pakistanis in a boat tragedy in Italy “deeply concerning & worrisome”.

Taking to Twitter, the premier has directed the Foreign Office to ascertain facts as early as possible and take the nation into confidence.

The reports of the drowning of over two dozen Pakistanis in a boat tragedy in Italy are deeply concerning & worrisome. I have directed Foreign Office to ascertain facts as early as possible & take the nation into confidence.

— Shehbaz Sharif (@CMShehbaz) February 27, 2023 At least 59 people including 28 Pakistanis died when a wooden sailing boat carrying migrants from Turkey to Europe crashed against rocks near the southern Italian coast early on Sunday, authorities said. The deadly incident reopened a debate on migration in Europe and Italy, where a recently-elected right-wing government has introduced tough new laws for migrant rescue charities, which drew criticism from the United Nations and others.

The provisional death toll stands at 58, Manuela Curra, a provincial government official, told Reuters. She said 81 people survived, with 20 hospitalised including one person in intensive care.

As emergency services were still searching the sea and the coastline amid stormy weather, Curra said that survivors had said some 140 to 150 were on board - suggesting that some migrants were still missing.

The vessel, carrying people from Afghanistan, Iran and several other countries, sank in rough sea conditions near Steccato di Cutro, a seaside resort on the eastern coast of Calabria, the region that forms the tip of Italy's boot.

It had set sail from the western port of Izmir "about four days ago" and was first spotted about 74 km (46 miles) off the coast late on Saturday by a plane operated by European Union border agency Frontex, Italian police said.

Patrol boats were mobilised to intercept it, but severe weather forced them to return to port, police said, adding that authorities then mobilised search units along the coastline.

Among migrants first found washed up on the beach was a baby a few months old, according to ANSA news agency. Cutro's mayor, Antonio Ceraso, said women and children were among the dead, though it was not yet clear how many.

His voice cracking up, the mayor told the SkyTG24 news channel that he had seen "a spectacle that you would never want to see in your life ... a gruesome sight ... that stays with you for all your life".

Wreckage from the wooden gulet, a Turkish sailing boat, was strewn across a large stretch of coast.

One survivor was arrested on migrant trafficking charges, the Guardia di Finanza customs police said.

Meanwhile Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni expressed deep sorrow for the deaths, and blamed inhumane human traffickers who profit while offering migrants "the false prospect of a safe journey."

"The government is committed to preventing departures, and with them the unfolding of these tragedies, and will continue to do so, first of all by calling for maximum cooperation from the countries of departure and of origin," she said.

Meloni's administration has said migrant rescue charities are encouraging migrants to make the dangerous sea journey to Italy, and sometimes work in partnership with human traffickers.