Over 40 Pakistanis among 50 drowned in Spain bound boat

A boat carrying as many as 50 migrants attempting to reach Spain from West Africa has drowned, it emerged Thursday.

Migrant rights group Walking Borders reported that the tragic boat capsized, leading to fears that missing migrants have died. 

Notably, Moroccan authorities on Wednesday rescued 36 people from a boat that had departed from Mauritania on January 2 while carrying 86 migrants, including 66 Pakistanis.

The rights group based in Madrid and Navarra said it had already alerted authorities from all countries involved almost six days ago about the missing boat.

Another NGO, Alarm Phone, which provides an emergency phone line for migrants lost at sea, also reported that it had alerted Spain's maritime rescue service on January 12 but made it a point to mention that it had no information about the boat.

Canary Islands' regional leader Fernando Clavijo in a post on X (formerly Twitter) expressed 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 while adding, "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.

It merits mention that a record 10,457 migrants, or 30 people a day, died trying to reach Spain in 2024, most of them trying to cross the Atlantic route from West African countries such as Mauritania and Senegal to the Canary Islands.

Last month, a boat capsize incident in Greece consumed 40 lives as rescue efforts by authorities to find survivors ended without any success.

Officially, Pakistan’s government has confirmed the death of five people belonging to the Sialkot, Gujrat, Mandi Bahauddin, and Narowal districts. 

Among the five confirmed victims, two belonged to Pasrur, a tehsil of Sialkot, while one each hailed from Gujrat, Narowal, and Mandi Bahauddin. The fifth victim was identified as Muhammad Shabeer of Gakharkey village of Narowal.

Additionally, locals in Heelan village of Mandi Bahauddin also claimed that five youngsters from their village were also among the missing. The family of another victim named Awais of Uddu Fateh village of Pasrur told the media that he was also missing.

An earlier report suggested that 47 Pakistanis were among the rescued passengers.