44 Pakistani migrants among 50 feared drowned en route to Spain by boat
MADRID/ISLAMABAD, Jan 16 (SABAH): As many as 50 migrants, including 44 Pakistanis, attempting to reach Spain by boat from West Africa may have drowned, migrant rights group Walking Borders said on Thursday.
Moroccan authorities on Wednesday rescued 36 people from a boat that had departed from Mauritania on January 2, the group based in Madrid and Navarra said, and had carried 86 migrants, including 66 Pakistanis.
The rights group said it had alerted authorities from all countries involved six days ago about the missing boat.
The boat left for Spain on January 2, relatives of the drowned Pakistani migrants have said. According to them, the human traffickers had anchored the boat in the sea and were demanding more money from them.
Alarm Phone, an NGO that provides an emergency phone line for migrants lost at sea, said it had alerted Spain’s maritime rescue service on January 12. The service said it did not have any information about the boat.
Citing the Walking Borders’ post on social media platform X, the Canary Islands’ regional leader Fernando Clavijo expressed his sorrow for the victims and urged Spain and Europe to act to prevent further tragedies.
“The Atlantic cannot continue to be the graveyard of Africa,” Clavijo said on X. “They cannot continue to turn their backs on this humanitarian drama.”
Walking Borders CEO Helena Maleno said in a post on X that 44 of those who drowned were from Pakistan. “They spent 13 days of anguish on the crossing without anyone coming to rescue them,” she said.
A record 10,457 migrants, or 30 people a day, died trying to reach Spain in 2024, most while attempting to cross the Atlantic route from West African countries such as Mauritania and Senegal to the Canary islands, according to Walking Borders.
Meanwhile Foreign Office Spokesperson Shafqat Ali Khan in a statement issued on Thursday that our Embassy in Rabat (Morocco) has informed us, that a boat carrying 80 passengers, including several Pakistani nationals, setting off from Mauritania, has capsized near the Moroccan port of Dakhla. Several survivors, including Pakistanis, are lodged in a camp near Dakhla. Our Embassy of in Rabat is in touch with local authorities. Additionally, a team from the Embassy has been dispatched to Dakhla to facilitate the Pakistani nationals and provide necessary assistance.
The FO spokesperson said that the Crisis Management Unit (CMU) in the Foreign Ministry has been activated and the Deputy Prime Minister / Foreign Minister has instructed the relevant Government agencies to extend all possible facilitation to the affected Pakistanis.
The contact details of Ministry’s CMU and our focal persons in Rabat are as follows:
Contact Details of the Crisis Management Unit (CMU) of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Islamabad:
24/7 Crisis Response Center
Telephone: 051-9207887
E-mail: cmu1@mofa.gov.pk
Contact Details of Embassy of Pakistan, Rabat:
Ms. Rabia Kasuri (Acting Ambassador): +212 689 52 23 65 (WhatsApp)
Mr. Noman Ali, Consular Assistant: +92 310 2204672 (WhatsApp)
Further information shall be shared as it becomes available.