Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has confirmed that 21 of its citizens survived a shipwreck near the port of Dakhla in southern Morocco, local media reported.
The ship carried 80 passengers on board, including some Pakistanis, who departed from Mauritania for irregular migration towards the Canary Islands before capsizing near Dakhla.
In an official statement, the ministry’s spokesperson said that Pakistan’s embassy in Rabat was “immediately mobilized to assist those affected by this tragedy.” Authorities distributed emergency supplies, including food, water, medicine, and clothing to the survivors.
Local authorities in Dakhla are currently providing shelter and medical care to the Pakistani nationals.
Spain-based migrant rights group Walking Borders said that 50 people had died on their way to the Canary Islands and that 44 of them were Pakistanis, the Associated Press (AP) reported.
President Asif Ali Zardari expressed grief over the deaths and stressed the need for strict measures to curb human trafficking, the same source added.