Six more victims of boat tragedy buried
Rescuers recover a body after a suspected migrant boat is wrecked and bodies believed to be of refugees were found in Cutro, the eastern coast of Italy's Calabria region, Italy, February 26, 2023. REUTERS/Giuseppe Pipita
The number of people hailing from Gujrat who died in Libya boat accident has gone up to 11. Six more bodies reached their native homes 17 days after the tragedy.
Eleven young people from Gujrat had gone to Dubai legally, and then on the night of February 21 departed for Italy illegally through Libya with the help from some human traffickers.
Of course they didn’t make it, leaving their loved ones behind with grief and agony.
The bodies of Shaban Ali, Mudassar, Hasnain, Zain, Arif and Mehar Nadeem were handed over to their heirs at the Allama Iqbal International Airport in the provincial capital.
Two days ago, in the first phase, four youths of Gujrat were buried while a day ago, six more bodies had been handed over to their heirs.
Of the 11 youths who died, nine were unmarried.
According to their heirs, their beloved had gone illegally by paying Rs2 million to Rs3 million to the members of a gang active in Mandi Bahauddin, Hafizabad and Gujrat for many years.
Every year in Gujrat, hundreds of cases are registered against alleged human traffickers, but there the matter ends while the youths of the district naively walk into the trap and pay the price with their lives.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 11th, 2023.