Morocco Boat Tragedy: Identification 'confirms' 13 dead are Pakistani nationals

ISLAMABAD: The identification process of 13 bodies recovered from the Morocco boat tragedy has been completed, ARY News reported citing diplomatic sources.

According to diplomatic sources, the process confirmed that the 13 deceased individuals were of Pakistani origin.

On January 15, reports emerged that 44 Pakistanis had lost their lives in the boat accident. However, local authorities were only able to recover 13 bodies, which were unidentifiable and lacked documentation.

To facilitate the identification process, the services of the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) were employed. Fingerprints and photographs of the deceased were sent to NADRA for verification purposes.

Following NADRA’s confirmation, lists of the identified individuals were compiled. The next step will be to initiate the process of repatriating the bodies of the 13 Pakistani nationals to their homeland.

Earlier, seven Pakistani survivors of the Morocco boat tragedy were repatriated to the country.

The survivors included Muhammad Asif, Muhammad Abbas, Mudassar Hussain, Imran Iqbal, Uzair Basharat, Shoaib Zafar and Aamir Ali, who hail from various cities of Gujarat, Hafizabad, Sialkot, Mandi Bahauddin and Gujranwala.

Federal Investigation Agency’s Immigration cell took all the individuals into custody at Islamabad Airport and transferred them to the circle for questioning, where an investigation officer recorded their statements.

The individuals while narrating their ordeal, confirmed that human traffickers brutally tortured them. They also provided details about the traffickers and agents involved in sending them abroad, leading the FIA to expand its investigation.

According to survivors, as many as 21 Pakistani nationals were allowed to leave in the boat after they paid the ransom to the human traffickers.

The Pakistani nationals alleged that most of the victims lost their lives due to severe cold and torture while the boat also lacked sufficient stocks of food supplies and drinking water.

Sources said that the boat was operated by the international human trafficking racket which includes traffickers from Senegal, Mauritania and Morocco.