12 people have been saved so far in the Greece boat tragedy, which is said to have included 300 Pakistani refugees

300 Pakistani immigrants are said to have been on board the tragic boat off the coast of Greece, where at least 78 migrants perished and hundreds more went missing.

Only 12 Pakistanis have been discovered alive, and the most of them are thought to be dead. Between 400 and 750 passengers were aboard the boat when it capsized. According to the Greek government, 104 people have already been brought ashore.

At least 150 Pakistanis are reportedly killed when the rusting trawler sunk Wednesday near Greece’s Peloponnese coast, according to a report in Wion. However, local media in Pakistan said that the terrible tragedy resulted in up to 300 deaths of Pakistani citizens.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has ordered a swift crackdown on agents involved in people smuggling and proclaimed Monday a “national day of mourning.” He also announced them to be “severely punished.”

The Pakistani authorities, who have threatened “severe punishment” for anybody implicated in the trafficking, have so far detained 10 accused human traffickers.

Pakistan’s economy is in a tailspin. A severe slump brought on by years of poor management and political unrest has depleted dollar reserves, sparked out-of-control inflation, and led to several plant closures.

Pakistanis are being encouraged by their poor condition to go to Europe through dangerous, illegal ways.

Many young Pakistanis have their hearts set on traveling to Europe, risking everything to do so. Some of them are slain, while others manage to reach Europe, and their success inspires others to take the same route.

Official estimates place the number of Pakistanis in Greece at around 50,000. Unofficial estimates, however, place the number of illegal immigrants at as much as 4-5 lakh, or around 5% of Greece’s whole population.

When Greece and Pakistan negotiated a bilateral agreement enabling Pakistanis to work temporarily in Greek shipyards in the 1970s, Pakistani migrants began to arrive in Greece.

Greece is unusual since most South Asian immigrants are from Pakistan, as opposed to other nations where the bulk of the migrant population is from India.