Gujranwala: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) said on Wednesday that the remains of four more Pakistanis who died in the Greek boat disaster last month have been recovered.
The total number of bodies recovered has risen to nine, the deceased have been identified as Shabbir, Zain Ali and Zeeshan, all three hailing from Narowal, while the fourth person has been identified as Owais Ali of Sialkot. is
The bodies were transferred from the Greek island of Gavdos to a hospital in Athens, the agency said, adding that the Pakistani embassy was making arrangements to send the remains to Pakistan, but it could take another week.
The development comes after more than 80 Pakistanis drowned after their boats capsized near Greece on the intervening night of December 13 and 14. Although 36 Pakistani nationals were rescued, the rest are still missing, according to a report. The Pakistani embassy should be considered dead.
Bangladeshi, Egyptian and Sudanese nationals were also on board the boats that departed from Tobruk port in Libya.
The incident drew a strong reaction from the government and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif ordered strict action against human traffickers as well as FIA officials who were found to be involved in facilitating them.
While presiding over a meeting on prevention of human trafficking in Islamabad on December 20, the Prime Minister directed the relevant authorities to quickly complete the ongoing investigation on the issue of human trafficking and submit concrete recommendations.
The investigation agency says that after finding five more bodies, the number of missing Pakistanis has reached 40.
It should be noted that according to official sources, there are still more than 5000 Pakistanis in Libya who are ready to go to Europe, while there are many Libyan and Pakistani agents with them. They obtained visas from Pakistan and arrived legally in Libya, sources said.