Families of drowned migrants await bodies

Police constable among six victims of boat accident from Gujrat

GUJRAT:

 The families of six youths of Gujrat district who died in a migrant boat accident near Libya have been waiting for their bodies for past two weeks.

The authorities have confirmed that a local police constable was among those who had lost their lives in the accident.

The boat carrying people traveling from Dubai to Italy via Libya in quest for a better future had capsized in the sea on the night of February 21.

Constable Tauqeer was among those who drowned.

According to his family, he had left for Dubai a few months ago for a bright future for his three young children.

He ostensibly had illegally boarded the boat to Italy.

The heirs of 22-year-old Mohammad Hasnain, 21-year-old Muhammad Ali of Bhojpur, 37-yearold Ansar Farooq of Sarai Alamgir, 40-year-old Meher Nadeem, Muneebur Rehman and 30-year-old police constable Tauqeer have confirmed their death in the incident.

There is an atmosphere of mourning in the native localities of the deceased.

A relative of one of the victims lamented that neither the Pakistan embassy nor the Ministry of Foreign Affairs knew the exact number and complete information about the victims despite the passage of two weeks.

The grief-stricken families also accused the government of indifference regarding the repatriation of the bodies.

According to Federal Investigation Authority (FIA) Gujrat Circle Deputy Director Sarwar Waraich, a case has been filed against six human smugglers on the complaint of the father of Muneebur Rehman who had died in the accident.

He said suspected human traffickers Zahid Sunyara, a resident of Mangowal, Raja Raheel and Sufyan of Gujrat and Arab Ali Khan had been arrested.

The official claimed while speaking to The Express Tribune that two suspects nominated in the case, Hamza and Afaq, were running the network from Libya.

He said Hamza was the leader of the gang.

It was revealed during the investigation that the arrested human traffickers had received over Rs9 million from the families of the deceased youths and sent money to their accomplices in Libya.

Among the deceased, Muhammad Hasnain, Muhammad Ali and Ansar Farooq were unmarried, while Meher Nadeem and constable Mohammad Tauqeer had three children each.