By Staff Reporter
KARACHI: Pakistan has arrested a human trafficker who was involved in a boat accident that killed seven Pakistani migrants off the coast of Greece, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) said on Saturday.
The suspect was caught at Karachi airport while trying to board a flight to Azerbaijan, an FIA spokesperson said in a statement.
“He was involved in illegally sending many Pakistanis to Libya,” the spokesperson said. “He had been underground for the last several months and attempted to flee to Azerbaijan via an international flight.”
The suspect had a case registered against him in the FIA’s Anti-Human Smuggling Circle in Gujrat, and has been handed over to FIA Gujrat officials, the statement added.
The death toll from Wednesday’s disaster could run to many hundreds as witness accounts suggested that between 400 and 750 people had packed the fishing boat that sank about 50 miles (80 km) from the southern Greek town of Pylos.
Most of the people on board the capsized boat were from Egypt, Syria and Pakistan, Greek government officials have said.
Greek authorities have said 104 survivors and 78 bodies of the dead were brought ashore in the immediate aftermath. Hopes were fading of finding any more people alive.
Twelve Pakistanis were among survivors of the boat capsize, the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Saturday, but it did not have numbers for how many Pakistanis died, or their identities.
Hundreds of Pakistanis, among other people from poorer nations, try to cross into Europe and developed countries every year in search of a better future and living conditions.
Many of them perish on the way while undertaking a dangerous journey, often facilitated by human traffickers.
Nearly 1,000 migrants have either died or gone missing while trying to reach Europe in rickety boats this year, according to the United Nations.
In February, several Pakistanis also died in a boat wreck off Italy that killed nearly a hundred people.
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