ISLAMABAD: Government of Pakistan has launched an investigation to find alleged traffickers after a boat carrying nearly 200 people – 20 of them Pakistanis – drowned near the southern Italian coast, killing at least 63.
Sixteen Pakistanis survived the shipwreck, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif tweeted on Monday, while four others are still missing. A search operation is continuing.
On Tuesday, an official of Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) told Al Jazeera there had been two incidents of Pakistani refugees drowning in recent weeks, the other being off Libya’s coast nearly a week ago.
The FIA official, on condition of anonymity, said the agency had formed several teams of investigators following the incidents and expected to arrest some suspected traffickers.
“We have met some families and conducted our own investigation into criminal elements involved in trafficking, and will hopefully make some arrests soon,” he said.
At least 63 people, including 12 children, died after the wooden boat that left Turkey last week crashed early on Sunday against rocks near Steccato di Cutro, a resort on the eastern coast of Italy’s Calabria region.
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