Four Pakistanis drown in boat wreck near Libya: FO

• Four Pakistani citizens died in a boat wreck
• The incident occurred off the coast of Benghazi, Libya
• Pakistan’s embassy in Tripoli will repatriate their bodies

ISLAMABAD: At least four Pakistani citizens are reported to have died in a boat wreck off the coast of Benghazi in Libya, the Foreign Office said.

“We would like to share with great sorrow that initial reports suggest that four Pakistanis have perished in a boat wreck near Benghazi, Libya on 26 February 2023,” the Foreign Office said in a tweet.

Pakistan’s embassy in Tripoli is facilitating the process of transportation of the mortal remains of the victims to Pakistan, it added.

The latest incident comes after 62 people died when a wooden sailboat carrying migrants from several countries, including Pakistan, crashed against the rocks off southern Italian coast early on Sunday.

The Foreign Office confirmed that 20 Pakistanis were on board the ill-fated boat—16 of whom survived while four were still missing.

In a tweet on Monday, Pakistan’s foreign ministry said their embassy official in Italy met the 16 Pakistanis rescued from the capsized vessel.

“They seemed [to be] 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 four missing Pakistanis,” said the tweet.

The vessel, which was believed to be carrying between 180 to 200 migrants, had set sail from Izmir in western Turkey Manuela Curra, an official in Italy’s southern Calabria region, said.

Italian authorities said they have arrested three people who they believe were involved in trafficking the migrants on the ill-fated vessel.

Lieutenant Colonel Alberto Lippolis told a news hat a Turkish man and two Pakistani nationals had sailed the boat from Turkey to Italy despite the terrible weather, and were identified by survivors as “the main culprits of the tragedy”.

“According to initial investigations, they allegedly asked the migrants for about 8,000 euros ($8,485) each for the deadly journey,” said Lippolis, commander of a finance police team in the region of Calabria.

He sais all three have been arrested. One of the Pakistanis was a minor while police were looking for a fourth suspect who is Turkish.