Pakistani death toll in Greek migrant shipwreck rises to 4: FO

The number of Pakistanis killed in a Greek shipwreck last week has risen to four, the Foreign Office said on Monday.

At least five migrants drowned after their wooden boat, carrying many Pakistanis, capsized off Greece’s southern island of Gavdos, the coastguard said on Saturday, with witnesses saying many were still missing as search operations continued. In separate incidents, a Malta-flagged cargo vessel rescued 47 migrants from a boat sailing about 40 nautical miles off Gavdos, while a tanker rescued another 88 migrants some 28 nautical miles off the tiny island in Greece’s south.

The FO confirmed a day ago that one citizen was among the dead in the incidents while 47 Pakistanis were among the rescued.

However, in a statement issued today, the FO said: “We announce with deep sorrow that, as per the latest information shared by the Greek authorities, four Pakistani nationals have been identified among the dead in Saturday’s incidents of capsized boats in the south of Crete Island of Greece.”

The FO added that the Pakistani mission in Athens was in contact with Greek authorities to facilitate survivors and repatriate the dead bodies.

Greece was a favoured gateway to the European Union for migrants and refugees from the Middle East, Africa and Asia in 2015-2016, when nearly 1 million people landed on its islands, mostly via inflatable dinghies.

Incidents with migrant boats and shipwrecks off Crete and its tiny neighbour Gavdos, which are relatively isolated in the central Mediterranean, have increased over the past year.

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

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