- By Ajeet Kumar
- Fri, 17 Jan 2025 06:33 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
More than 40 Pakistanis are feared to have drowned in the capsising of a boat off West Africa’s Atlantic coastline, which has emerged as a primary point of departure for migrants aiming to reach Europe, news agency the Associated Press reported.
Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari expressed grief over the deaths and stressed the need for strict measures to curb human trafficking.
Zardari’s comments in a statement late Thursday came after a Spain-based migrant rights group, Walking Borders, said 50 people had died on their way to the Canary Islands and that 44 of them were Pakistanis. The group said the migrants began their journey on January 2.
Pakistan said it had been informed by its embassy in Morocco that a boat carrying 80 passengers, including some Pakistanis, had set off from Mauritania and capsized near Dakhla, a Moroccan-controlled port city in the disputed Western Sahara.
Migrants deaths
Millions of people migrate to Europe each year, the vast majority using legal and regular means. Less than 240,000 people crossed borders into the continent without papers last year, according to the European Union’s border agency Frontex.
As authorities have worked to prevent migration and smuggling from countries in the Mediterranean Sea, more dangerous routes have become increasingly used. Frontex reported more than 50,000 migrants made the journey from northwest Africa to Spain’s Canary Islands in 2024, including 178 Pakistanis.
9,757 people migrants died
Walking Borders said in a report last week that 9,757 people had died or gone missing trying to cross to the islands, calling the route “the deadliest in the world.”
The islands are roughly 105 kilometres from the closest point in Africa, but to avoid security forces, many migrants attempt longer journeys that can take days or weeks. The majority last year departed from Mauritania, which is at least 762 kilometres from the closest Canary Island, El Hierro.
(With inputs from Agency)
