Boats of doom

A handout photo provided by the Hellenic Coast Guard shows migrants onboard the boat during a rescue operation, before their boat capsized on the open sea, off Greece. — Reuters

IT is being called the worst migrant boat disaster in the Mediterranean Sea. A week ago, a migrant boat carrying up to 750 people, 400 of them said to be Pakistanis, started to have trouble with its engine. After three days of being stranded, the boat capsized and most of the passengers died – in fact, all of them, except for 104, who were rescued. Among the survivors were only 12 Pakistanis.

The boat smugglers who run these migrant boats had promised its passengers passage from Libya to Italy. The accident took place off the shores of Greece.