The United Nations is investigating a sudden increase in Pakistani migrants attempting to make the perilous sea crossing to Europe, its migration agency said on Friday, after a smuggler’s boat foundered off the coast of Libya leaving 90 people feared drowned.
Most of the victims appear to have been from Pakistan, according to information provided by three survivors that had not been verified, said Olivia Headon, a spokeswoman for the International Organization for Migration, who added that eight of the 10 bodies from the capsized craft that had washed up on the Libyan coast were Pakistani.
The boat appeared to have become unbalanced in relatively calm waters after setting off from Zuwarah, in western Libya, a popular departure point for migrants across the Mediterranean.
Most migrants crossing the Mediterranean to Europe, usually Italy, are from sub-Saharan West African countries. Over 3,100 Pakistanis made the sea crossing from North Africa to Italy in 2017, out of a total of over 119,000, making them the 13th largest group by nationality, Ms. Headon said, speaking by telephone from Tunis with reporters in Geneva.
That proportion changed dramatically last month, when 248 Pakistanis reached Italy via the same route, from a total of about 4,000 people, making them the third biggest group by nationality. A year earlier, in January 2017, just nine Pakistanis made the crossing.
