Athens

Days after at least 78 migrants looking to enter Greece died when a boat capsized, over 300 Pakistani refugees on the ill-fated vessel are believed have been aboard and most of them killed. Only 78 bodies had been recovered after the boat capsized.

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Official sources told WION that at least 150 Pakistanis are confirmed to be dead. 

Reports claimed that nearly 100 kids could have been trapped in the ship's hold while 298 kids are still missing, according to Dunya News and News360. 

Also read | At least 78 die, several missing after boat capsizes and sinks off Greece

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Over 700 refugees were reportedly on the boat which included over 300 from Pakistan, said reports.

Greek authorities said 104 survivors had been brought ashore so far.

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Also watch | Greece: Migrant boat tragedy leaves hundreds missing

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Meanwhile, the Pakistani embassy in Greece issued a statement saying that its representatives have met the 12 Pakistani survivors in Kalamata from the June 15 disaster. Following that meet, DNA reports and identification reports have been obtained from the family members.

Pakistanis in Greece

In the 1970s, Greece and Pakistan signed a bilateral agreement allowing Pakistanis to gain temporary employment in Greek shipyards. Shortly after, another agreement facilitated the migration of Pakistanis to work in Greece’s textile industries.

The official number of Pakistanis in the country are stated to be around 50,000, the unofficial estimates that include the illegal migrants are as high as 400,000 to 500,000 that constitutes around 5 per cent of the total population in Greece. 

Unlike most other countries, where migrants from India outnumber Pakistanis, Greece presents a different situation where the majority of people from South Asian origins are from Pakistan.

Most of the Pakistanis in the country were single, young men who had entered the country illegally with the help of human smugglers through the land route of Iran and Turkey to Greece

The four districts in Punjab, which had the largest share of migrants included Gujrat, Gujranwala, Sialkot and Mandi Bahauddin.

The UN estimates there are 680,000 migrants in Libya, some looking to travel by boat to Europe and others working full-time in Libya. 

The UN’s international organisation for migration said nearly 3,800 people died on migration routes within and from the Middle East and north Africa region last year, the highest number since 2017.

Pakistan authorities arrest 10 human traffickers

Meanwhile, Pakistan authorities are said to have arrested 10 alleged human traffickers after it emerged that many of the migrants and refugees who drowned off the coast of Greece were from the South Asian nation, officials said on Sunday.

As pwer an Al Jazeera report, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also ordered an immediate crackdown on agents engaged in people smuggling, saying they would be “severely punished”.

Young men, mostly from east Punjab and northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, use the route through Iran, Libya, Turkey, and Greece to enter Europe for livelihood as Pakistan is battling an unprecedented economic and political crisis, the Al Jazeera report added.

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