Migrants who survived capsize off African coast begin returning to Pakistan

ISLAMABAD — A group of migrants who survived the capsizing of a boat off the coast of West Africa earlier this month began returning to Pakistan on Thursday, the country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

Some 50 people died when a boat carrying them to the Canary Islands capsized near Dakhla, a Moroccan-controlled port city in the disputed Western Sahara, including 44 Pakistanis, according to Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Walking Borders, a Spain-based migrant rights group.

Foreign ministry spokesperson Shafqat Ali Khan said that some of the 22 Pakistani survivors had already returned home on two flights. He did not give any further details, and it was unclear how many survivors returned home.

Almost all the Pakistanis who were on the boat were from cities in the eastern province of Punjab, and relatives of those who are feared dead have been urging the government to make efforts to bring back their bodies.

Hundreds of Pakistanis die every year while trying to reach Europe by land and sea with the help of human smugglers. Pakistan says it has launched a crackdown on human traffickers and sacked several immigration officials for negligence.