Islamabad, February 10 (Reuters): The Pakistan Foreign Office on Monday said Pakistan’s embassy in Libya was seeking details of “Pakistani affectees” as a vessel carrying around 65 passengers capsized near the Marsa Dela port.
The development follows a similar incident last month in which a boat carrying 80 passengers capsized near Morocco. While the identities of at least 13 Pakistanis killed in the incident were confirmed, over 40 Pakistanis were reportedly murdered by African human traffickers on the boat and only 22 survived the tragedy.
In a statement today, the FO said: “Our Embassy in Tripoli has informed that a vessel carrying approximately 65 passengers capsized near the port of Marsa Dela, North West of Zawiya city, Libya.”
It added that the Pakistan Embassy in Tripoli had immediately dispatched a team to “Zawiya hospital to assist the local authorities in [the] identification of the deceased”.
“The embassy is also trying to ascertain further details of the Pakistani affectees,” the statement said.
It is unclear if the passengers onboard the vessel were migrants.
“The Crisis Management Unit of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Mofa) has been activated to monitor the situation,” the FO said, providing the following contact details for any query.
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