Eight Pakistani people who survived the tragic boat accident migrating last month near Morocco returned home, officials confirmed on Saturday.
The survivors arrived in Islamabad on the QR614 flight, where the authorities began to question them on their trip.
The returnees were identified as Muhammad Afzal, Muhammad Adeel, Irfan Ahmed, Arsalan, Ghulam Mustafa, Badr Mohiuddin, Mujahid Ali and Tasveer Ahmed.
Their age varies between 21 and 41 years old, and they are from Sheikhupura, Sialkot, Mandi Bahauddin, Gujrat and Jhelum.
The officials revealed that these people were trying to illegally enter Spain via Dubai and Senegal.
On January 16, a boat carrying irregular migrants from Mauritania to Spain capsized the coast of Morocco. The boat, which had left Mauritania on January 2, transported 86 migrants, including 66 Pakistani.
Moroccan authorities have indicated that the incident had occurred near Dakhla, where 36 survivors were rescued.
Initial surveys suggest that they had paid for human smugglers for travel.
The traffickers would have sent them to Dubai as a visit visas before transporting them via Ethiopia and Senegal.
Since Senegal, the group has been put on a boat to Spain. The survivors alleged that the smugglers had submitted them to physical violence before the deadly trip.
The authorities now collect information on the human trafficking network, which would operate from various regions of Punjab.
The officials urged citizens to avoid illegal migration routes and to verify the travel arrangements through official embassies.
The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) continues its efforts to dismantle trafficking networks operating vulnerable people looking for opportunities abroad.
Earlier this week, the federal government had dismissed the director general of the FIA Ahmed Ishaque Jehangir, citing serious administrative failures.
Jehangir’s dismissal occurred in the midst of increasing criticisms concerning FIA treatment of cases of human trafficking, in particular its slow response to recent tragedies of migrant boats. Sources indicate that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif approved the decision following the concerns concerning the inability of the FIA to limit illegal migration networks.
