Four Pakistani nationals lost their lives while attempting to illegally travel to Spain, ARY News reported on Sunday.
The young men, who were hiding in the cargo hold of a ship, tragically died due to suffocation. The incident occurred in Mauritania, and one of the victims was identified as Abu Huraira, a resident of Jinnah Colony in Wazirabad. According to family sources, Abu Huraira had left for Spain a month earlier, facilitated by an agent named Usman.
In a related incident, a boat carrying migrants capsized near Spain’s Canary Islands overnight, resulting in at least nine deaths and leaving 48 people missing. The National Maritime Rescue Service reported that 84 people were onboard, with 27 rescued after a distress call was received just after midnight near El Hierro, one of the Canary Islands.
This tragedy follows the deaths of 39 migrants in early September when their boat sank off Senegal while attempting a similar journey to the Canary Islands, from where migrants hope to reach mainland Europe.
Thousands of migrants have died in recent years while trying to cross the Atlantic to Europe in overcrowded and poorly maintained boats. In late August, Spain’s prime minister visited Mauritania and The Gambia to sign agreements aimed at cracking down on human smuggling and expanding legal immigration pathways.
As of August 15, 22,304 migrants had reached the Canary Islands since the start of the year, compared to 9,864 in the same period the previous year. The Atlantic route is particularly dangerous due to strong ocean currents, with some boats launching from beaches as far as 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) from the islands.
The UN’s International Organization for Migration estimates that 4,857 people have died on this route since 2014, though aid organizations like Caminando Fronteras report much higher figures, estimating 18,680 deaths during attempts to reach Europe.