Greece shipwreck
National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf on Saturday urged the government to “immediately investigate” the capsizing of a fishing boat earlier this week that killed at least 78 people, with Pakistanis feared to be among the dead.
On Wednesday, an overloaded boat — with around 750 people on board according to a European rescue support charity — sank in open seas off Greece.
As a painstaking search for survivors continued, 104 people were found alive, with 12 Pakistanis among them, the Foreign Office (FO) confirmed today.
In a tweet, it said, “At this stage, we are unable to verify the number and identity of Pakistani nationals among the deceased.
“The Pakistan Embassy in Greece remains in contact with local authorities for the identification and recovery of Pakistani nationals,” the FO added.
Meanwhile, in a statement, the Pakistan Embassy in Greece requested Pakistanis who feared their relatives to be on the capsized boat to send DNA samples for the identification of the bodies.
A short tandem repeat (STR) DNA report of the parents or children of the missing person from a recognised laboratory, along with the missing person’s identity card or passport number should be sent to the Embassy’s email address, the statement added.
