Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif today declared a day national mourning after initial reports suggest that Pakistani constituted almost half of the people on board the ship that sank in the Mediterranean Sea. A smuggler said he took on board his son on the overcrowded fishing boat. Victims’ families report paying more than US$ 8,000 for the journey and then losing contact.

Islamabad (AsiaNews) – Pakistani authorities have arrested 10 alleged human traffickers following the shipwreck off Greece’s Peloponnese Peninsula in which at least 78 migrants died and hundreds are missing.

According to survivors' accounts, some 700-750 people were on board the fishing boat that sank, possibly 300-400 from Pakistan. Egyptian, Syrian, Palestinian and Afghan nationals were also among the victims. Pakistani media estimate that up to 298 Pakistanis may have died in the shipwreck.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif today declared a day national mourning. He also announced the creation of a four-member committee tasked with investigating human trafficking. The government expects a report by next week, while Mr. Sharif said that people smugglers would be "severely punished".

Most of the arrests took place in Kashmir, the region of origin of most of the Pakistani migrants (perhaps 135 people), while others hailed from the eastern province of Punjab.

The detainees are accused of sending young Pakistanis to Libya, from where the boat sailed on its way to Italy.

Nine Egyptian men held by Greek authorities for organising the journey on the overcrowded fishing boat are set to appear in court today, despite non-governmental organisations reporting several irregularities in the case.

Victims’ families said they paid 2.3 to 2.5 million Pakistani rupees (US$ 8,000 to US$ 8,700) for the journey to Italy.

Muhammad Mukhtar Butt, whose son, 27-year-old Kashif, was on board the boat, told Pakistan's Dawn newspaper that he received a call from the smuggler who had arranged his son's trip a few days before the shipwreck, congratulating him because his son was about to reach Europe. Since then, the smuggler “disappeared and his phone is also powered off.”

Families of six other migrants from a village near Wazirabad had the same story to tell.

Despite the lack of contact with their relatives for at least 10 days, other families were told that their loved ones were not on the boat that sank.

Uncertainty is also being fuelled by the difficulties in identifying the bodies. Raja Sakundar, from Kotli district in Kashmir province, said his nephews, aged 18 to 36, were missing.

Usman, one of the survivors, managed to contact his family from a refugee camp in Greece. He told his parents that the boat had run out of fresh water and was drifting for five days.

According to the Guardian, at least six people died on board the fishing boat before it sank from lack of water and overcrowded conditions.

Once on the vessel, Pakistanis were “condemned to the most dangerous part of the trawler ", while women and children were locked up in the hold.

The men arrested in Pakistan have given police the names of the human traffickers for whom they worked (Chaudhry Zulqernain, Talat Kiani, Khalid Mirza and Sajid Mehmood, almost all based in Libya), explaining that the journey to Europe begins with a regular flight to the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, or Libya.

One of the detainees also said that his son was also on the fishing boat that sank.

The smugglers admitted that other Pakistanis who had previously attempted the crossing are currently in Libyan prisons.

Thousands of young Pakistanis who have no chance of obtaining a legal visa to a European country also undertake risky journeys through Iran or Turkey.

Over the past year, Pakistan has been plunged in a deep political and economic crisis with inflation at 38 per cent in May and ongoing talks with the International Monetary Fund for a loan to avoid financial default.

• pakistan
• greece
• italy
• human trafficking
• shipwreck
• crackdown