Newsnomics AJAY ANGELINA reporter | At least 28 Pakistanis died among 59, after their overloaded sailing

boat carrying migrants crashed against rocks in the stormy sea of Italy’s southern Calabria region, on Sunday, Feb 26, 2023, authorities said.

The Pakistan Embassy in Rome is investigating about the Pakistani causalities capsized in the Italian coast.

 “We are closely following the reports about possible presence of Pakistanis in the vessel that has capsized off the coast of Italy” said the Pakistan Embassy.

"As of a few minutes ago, the number of confirmed victims was 59," Vincenzo Voce, mayor of the coastal city of Crotone, told TV channel Sky TG-24 Sunday afternoon.

A provincial government official, Manuela Curra, said “81 people survived, with 22 of them taken to hospital.”

Earlier, the coastguard service said “43 bodies” had been found along the coast and “80 people recovered

alive, including some who managed to reach the shore after the sinking”.

Italian Minister Giorgia Meloni expressed “deep sorrow” for the deaths. Blaming human traffickers, she vowed

to block migrant sea departures to prime prevent such disasters.

Italian Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi said, “it was essential to stop sea crossings that he said offer migrants the “illusory mirage of a better life” in Europe, enrich traffickers, and cause such tragedies.”

Pope Francis, the son of Italian immigrants to Argentina and long a vocal advocate for migrants’ rights, said he was praying for everyone caught up in the shipwreck.

The Foreign Office in Islamabad, meanwhile, said that it was looking into reports of the alleged presence of

Pakistanis aboard the boat.

Responding to the speculation, Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said “the Pakistani

Embassy in Rome is ascertaining the facts from the Italian authorities.”