Six Pakistanis die in Turkish migrant boat sinking

Overseas grievance cell initiates action on repatriation of deceased

The fatalities from a migrant boat sinking in Lake Van in Eastern Turkey include six Pakistanis, according to the Grievance Commissioner Cell for Overseas Pakistanis in the Federal Ombudsman Secretariat.

Acting on a request from the president POAF Germany, Grievance Commissioner Hafiz Ahsaan Ahmad Khokhar directed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis, and other relevant officials, to bring back the bodies of the deceased to Pakistan.

Three of the deceased were identified as Mohsin Ali Bhatti son of Muzaffar Bhatti, Syed Ali Hassan Shah son of Jadshah, and Rehman Ashraf son of Muhammad Ashraf Rahmani, according to the statement issued on Friday, which stated that three other deceased hailed from Gujrat and belonged to the same family.

It was specified that the aggreived families offered funeral prayers in absentia after hearing of the migrant boat's accident. Now, however, they await for the bodies of the deceased to arrive in Pakistan so that the burial rites may be performed. In this regard they contacted the Grievance Commissioner, who asked relevant departments to initiate immediate action, read the statement.

Migrant boat

As of last week, the death toll from the migrant boat sinking in Lake Van had risen to 54.

The boat, which sank on June 27, is believed to have been carrying 55 to 60 migrants, according to Turkey Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu. Five people have been arrested in relation to the incident.

Nine bodies were recovered from the lake on June 18, bringing the confirmed death toll to 54, the governor’s office said.

Lake Van is near Turkey’s border with Iran, from where migrants from Iran, Afghanistan and other countries regularly cross into Turkey heading west towards Europe.

Seven people died and 64 were rescued when a boat carrying migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan sank on the lake in December.

More than a million people reached Greece from Turkey in 2015-16. Numbers dropped sharply following a 2016 agreement between the EU and Turkey for Ankara to take migrants back in return for funds.

Earlier this year, tens of thousands of migrants tried to cross into Greece via land and sea borders after Ankara said it would no longer stop them.

Turkey, home to 3.6 million Syrians, the world’s largest refugee population, had said it would open the frontier because it was alarmed by the prospect of another wave of refugees fleeing war in northwest Syria.

*With additional input from Reuters