Rescuers have recovered the bodies of 16 Pakistanis after the boat they were on capsized off the coast of Libya, with ten more people missing, Pakistan’s foreign ministry
said today.

“So far 16 bodies have been recovered and their Pakistani citizenship has been established through their passports,” a ministry spokesman said. “There are 37 survivors, one of whom has been hospitalised and 33 are in police custody.”

A team from Pakistan’s embassy in Tripoli visited the coastal town of Zawiya to meet with local officials and those from the town’s hospital.

Every year, thousands of Pakistanis pay large sums of money to traffickers to attempt dangerous and irregular journeys to Europe, where they hope to find work and send money to support their families back home.

Pakistanis are often among those who drown as they board overcrowded boats that sink in the Mediterranean, which separates North Africa from Europe, the world’s deadliest migratory route.