Bodies of 4 Pakistani victims of Morocco boat tragedy repatriated

ISLAMABAD: The mortal remains of four Pakistani nationals who had died in a boat capsizing incident near the Moroccan port reached here on Wednesday night.

The bodies were identified after an extensive process of verification by the National Database Registration Authority (NADRA).

A boat carrying several Pakistanis was capsized near the Moroccan port of Dhakla on January 16.

The Pakistani nationals whose mortal remains arrived in Islamabad through a Saudi Airline flight SV726, included Hamid Shabbir (Passport No: CZ5133683), Muhammad Arslan Khan (Passport No: LM453261), Qaisar Iqbal (Passport No: GR1331413) and Sajjad Ali (Passport No: XX1836111).

The Embassy of Pakistan in Rabat, Morocco had informed that the repatriation of the mortal remains of other 13 Pakistani nationals perished in Morocco Boat incident were due in the ongoing week.

Talking to media, Federal Minister for Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development, Chaudhry Salik Hussain expressed grief and sorrow over the tragic incident stating, ”I have no words to express my pain and feeling over this incident.”

He said that all the officers were very saddened and they are standing with bereaved families at this hour of the night, adding that our ministry was trying to create legal means to refrain such untoward incidents in future.

The ministry was signing Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with several countries to provide legal platforms to energetic youth.

The minister said that the mafia who thinking for selling and buying the youth but on the special directives of Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, we were taking strict action against such elements.

“Our ministry is creating many opportunities for the youth by setting up offices at the local level so that the middlemen mafia can be eliminated,” he said.

He said that the Prime Minister and the Interior Minister had taken strict notice of this incident and directed the authorities concerned to take strict action against these elements.

The minister met and condoled the victims family members who came to receive the dead bodies at Islamabad International Airport.