ISLAMABAD: More than 300 Pakistan nationals are feared to have been killed after an overcrowded boat with around 750 people on board sank off the coast of Greece on way to Italy illegally.
Pakistan Senate chairman Muhammad Sadiq Sanjrani disclosed the numbers on Sunday, PTI reported.About 750 people had been crammed into the fishing trawler when it capsized on June 14, the International Organisation for Migration said, killing hundreds and making the tragedy one of the Mediterranean Seas worst.
Greece recovered two more bodies on Monday, bringing the confirmed toll to 80.
Only 104 people are known to have survived.Survivors of the shipwreck put the number of Pakistanis on board even higher at 400, many believed to be from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
Others on the trawler included 200 Egyptians and 150 Syrian, including around two dozen Syrian women and young children, according to the information shared by them.In the midst of its worst economic crisis in decades, Pakistanis are leaving their country in droves, many taking perilous, illegal routes to Europe.
Family sources said most trawler victims had paid (Pak) Rs 2.
5 million ($9,000) to secure their passage to Italy.Authorities have arrested 14 people so far in connection with the alleged trafficking.The Pakistani survivors have blamed Greek coastguards, saying the vessel had been deliberately left to sink.
At least 12 of them have narrated harrowing tales from a relief camp in Greece.
One of them, Usman, told his family back home that the boat had run out of fresh water and had been drifting for five days.
A cargo ship dropped some bottles of water after appeals, his family said.
They recounted that the vessels engine had broken down, leaving them stuck for almost a week.
They further alleged that the Greek authorities did not help despite the presence of two-speed boats, a cargo boat and a ship at the site.
The Greek authorities have, however, insisted that the boat was on course to Italy and did not need rescuing.