Their boat capsized off West Africa's Atlantic coastline, which has emerged as a primary point of departure for migrants aiming to reach Europe. View on euronews

ISLAMABAD (AP) — More than 40 Pakistanis are feared to have drowned in the capsizing of a boat off West Africa's Atlantic coastline, which has emerged as a primary point of departure for migrants aiming to reach Europe. President Asif Ali Zardari expressed grief over the deaths and stressed the need for strict measures to curb human trafficking.

On January 8, Ryanair launched its first-ever service to Western Sahara with Dakhla flights from the Spanish capital. Flightradar24 indicates that the first outbound service took 3h 6m.

The Pakistani government has launched an extensive crackdown on human traffickers, though hundreds of Pakistanis continue to perish annually while attempting to reach Europe. In 2023, an overcrowded boat carrying Pakistani migrants sank off Greece, killing an estimated 350 people in one of the deadliest incidents in the Mediterranean Sea.

As many as 50 migrants, many of them Pakistanis, may have drowned in the latest deadly wreck involving people trying to make the crossing from West Africa to Spain's Canary Islands, migrant rights group Walking Borders said on Thursday.

In a post on X, Pakistan’s Foreign Office said the boat carrying 80 passengers “capsized” off the coast of the disputed region of Western Sahara. “Several survivors, including Pakistanis, are lodged in a camp near Dakhla. Our embassy in Rabat is in ...

Moroccan authorities in Dakhla expelled three Spanish nationals: a journalist from the daily «Público» and two members of the Coordination of Associations in Solidarity with the Sahara (CEAS). According to a CEAS press release,