Overseas Workplace (FO) Spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch on Monday confirmed that 16 Pakistani survivors appeared to be in “good bodily situation” after a picket crusing boat carrying migrants crashed in opposition to rocks on the southern Italian coast over the weekend.
The vessel had set sail from Turkiye a number of days in the past with migrants from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran and several other different nations, and crashed in stormy climate close to Steccato di Cutro, a seaside resort on the japanese coast of Calabria, with our bodies, sneakers, and particles washing up alongside an extended stretch of shoreline.
The demise toll rose on Monday to 62 individuals, a coast guard official advised AFP — and that quantity seemed more likely to improve.
The FO spokesperson mentioned {that a} senior embassy official at this time met the 16 Pakistani survivors of the capsised vessel. “They appeared in good bodily version,” she added.
“In line with them there have been 20 Pakistanis on the ship,” the FO spokesperson mentioned.
“Embassy is in shut contact with Italian authorities to confirm the standing of the 4 lacking Pakistanis.”
Baloch added that the Pakistani embassy in Italy continued to “vigorously comply with the case”.
Earlier within the day, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif mentioned stories concerning the drowning of Pakistani residents have been “deeply regarding and worrying”.
He directed the FO to determine information as “early as attainable and take the nation into confidence”.
Overseas Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari additionally mentioned he was “deeply saddened” by the information stories of the shipwreck.
“My sympathies and condolence to the households of the deceased,” he mentioned, highlighting that the Pakistani embassy in Rome was ascertaining information from the Italian authorities.
Italy beaches combed for bodies
Italy’s coastguard searched the sea and beaches for bodies today following the shipwreck off Calabria, as authorities tried to identify the dead and the Italian government’s migrant policy came under scrutiny.
Sergio di Dato, head of the Doctors Without Borders (MSF) team offering psychological support to the survivors, said there were cases of children orphaned in the disaster.
“One Afghan 12-year-old boy lost his entire family, all nine of them — four siblings, his parents, and other very close relatives,” he told journalists.
At Le Castella, where a 15th-century fortress dominates the shoreline, an AFP journalist witnessed the coastguard recovering the body of a woman who looked to be in her early 20s.
Many missing minors
Local officials said the search was ongoing for around 20 people believed to be still missing, though survivors have given differing versions as to how many people were originally on the boat.
Forensic police set about identifying the victims, issuing an email address to which relatives searching for loved ones could send distinguishing details, from eye and hair colour to tattoos or piercings.
Save the Children charity said on Twitter it was supporting survivors from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia and Syria, including 10 minors who had been travelling with their families.
“There are many missing minors,” it wrote.
The charity said survivors described how “during the night, near the coast, they heard a loud boom, the boat broke and they all fell into the water”. The survivors were “in shock … some say they saw relatives fall into the water and disappear, or die”.
The boat was reported to have set sail from Izmir in Turkey last week.
Three suspected human traffickers were arrested and police were searching for a fourth, media reports said on Monday.
David Morabito, a rescue diver in Calabria, told Rai state broadcaster he had recovered the bodies of young twins from the water.
“When you see the little, lifeless bodies of children, those images pierce your heart,” Morabito said.
“So many children dead. A tragedy,” he added.
Must not set sail
The disaster has further fuelled the debate in Italy over search and rescue measures for saving migrants who run into trouble on the Central Mediterranean route, which is the world’s deadliest.
Far-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, elected in September, has pledged to curb migrant arrivals.
She said on Sunday the government was “committed to preventing [migrant boat] departures and, with them, this type of tragedy”, while her interior minister Matteo Paintedosi simply said, “they must not set sail”.
Their reactions were “a sad buck-passing, yet another slap in the face of the victims and survivors of this tragedy”, MSF Italy’s programmes director Marco Bertotto said Monday.
“Sea rescue must not be confused with illegal immigration. We need patrolling on the high seas and coordination,” he told journalists.
Meloni’s government pushed through a controversial law last week that forces migrant aid charities to perform only one life-saving rescue mission at a time before heading directly to ports, which are often far away.
Critics say the measure violates international law and will result in more people drowning.
According to the interior ministry, nearly 14,000 migrants have arrived in Italy by sea so far this year, up from 5,200 over the same period last year.
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