Pakistanis search for missing loved ones after boat sinks near Greece
Hundreds of migrants and asylum seekers, many from Pakistan, were on a boat that sank on Wednesday. Family members are looking for any clues on social media and asking for help from authorities.
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Shan Virk’s cousins Asadullah and Usama left Pakistan more than a month ago. They were on a boat with hundreds of other migrants and asylum seekers that sank near Greece on Wednesday. It is one of the worst such tragedies this year, with 78 deaths confirmed and hundreds more missing.
The boat had about 700 people on board, mostly from Pakistan, Egypt and Syria. It left Libya and was on its way to Italy when it went down in the deepest part of the Mediterranean Sea.
Virk is hoping that his cousins somehow survived. He is looking for any clues on social media, where many others are also posting photos and documents of their loved ones.
“They called us on June 9 and said they were going to get on a ship. It was very sudden,” Virk told Anadolu on the phone.
“We are very worried. No one is telling us if they were found.”
Haani Hassan, a Pakistani in Australia, is also searching for her husband’s uncle Syed Yousuf Taqi, who left from Bhalwal, a small city in Punjab.
She has not found anything that could ease her fear. She said an agent arranged Taqi’s travel from Pakistan.
“We have been trying to contact the agent. We’ve called many times but there is no answer,” she said.
‘Give them legal protection’
Pakistanis in Greece are also doing their best to help.
Javed Aslam Arain, a community leader in Athens, has been in touch with family members of the missing.
He told Anadolu on the phone that he has received “hundreds of passport copies and pictures” of Pakistanis who may have been on the boat.
“We are trying to go through it all and find out anything we can,” he said.
Arain said some Pakistani men are among the survivors.
“But they are being kept in the camps (in Kalamata). They should be allowed to leave the camps and must be given legal protection,” he said.
A post on one of the Facebook groups was about a press conference that Arain held about the tragedy, where he demanded action to bring those responsible to justice.
The Pakistani Embassy in Greece said in a statement that its officials have met 12 Pakistani survivors in Kalamata. It also issued an advisory asking family members to send DNA reports, identification documents and contact information to the embassy’s email address.
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