As Pakistanis die in fresh Mediterranean tragedy, a question lingers: Why?

Raihan Aslam’s family runs transportation, car rental, and grocery businesses, in which Raihan was also involved. However, five months ago, the 34-year-old sold his Toyota HiAce van for 4.5 million rupees (approximately $16,000) to pay an agent, hoping to leave his life in Chora village in the Gujrat district of Pakistan’s Punjab province and seek a future in Europe.

He ultimately failed. Raihan, a father of two daughters and a son, was one of 86 people who departed from Nouakchott, the capital of Mauritania in West Africa, on January 2, aboard a passenger boat bound for the Canary Islands, a Spanish-controlled archipelago off the northwest African coast. The boat drifted at sea for more than 13 days and was eventually rescued by Moroccan authorities, with only 36 people surviving. Pakistan’s acting ambassador to Morocco, Rabia Kausar, confirmed that at least 65 Pakistanis were on board, with 43 dead and 22 surviving.

Raihan tragically perished. “He just wanted to go to Europe somehow. That was his dream, and he told us not to stop him,” Raihan’s brother, Mian Ikram Aslam, told Al Jazeera. “All he wanted was to seek better opportunities for his three children outside of Pakistan.” Pakistan’s foreign ministry announced last Saturday that it would repatriate the 22 survivors of the recent shipwreck off the coast of Morocco, but for the families of those who died, the prospects remain bleak.

The tragedy raises a series of questions. How did the people on board die? Why were they traveling from West Africa to Europe – an unlikely new route for Pakistani irregular migrants? And, why would someone from a relatively well-off family like Raihan risk their life to go to Europe? The incident occurred on the Western Mediterranean route, just weeks after four boats sank in the Central Mediterranean in December of last year. In those tragedies, 200 people were rescued, but nearly 50 were reported dead or missing, including at least 40 Pakistanis.

In June 2023, the Mediterranean saw one of its deadliest shipwrecks when an old fishing boat, the “Adriana,” capsized off the coast of Pylos, Greece, killing more than 700 people, including nearly 300 Pakistanis. In the recent incident, Pakistan’s foreign ministry initially announced on January 16 that the boat had “capsized” near Dakhla, in the disputed Western Sahara territory controlled by Morocco. But the families of the victims claim that their loved ones were “beaten” and “tortured” before being thrown off the boat.

Aslam, 49, said that survivors from his village reported that pirates on another boat attacked them, stealing their belongings and hitting passengers with hammers before throwing some into the sea. “We were able to speak to some of the surviving boys in Dakhla, who recounted how pirates attacked their boat for a week straight, torturing and throwing people overboard,” he said. Chaudhry Ahsan Ghorsi, a businessman from the village of Dolah near Gujrat city in Punjab, shared similar accounts.

Ghorsi lost his nephews, Atif Shehzad and Sufian Ali, who paid agents 3.5 million rupees (approximately $12,500) to facilitate their journey. Survivors told him about the brutal circumstances of their deaths. “These boys sold their land to raise the funds and left in August of last year,” Ghorsi told Al Jazeera. “But I never imagined that they would meet such a terrible fate – being physically assaulted, tortured, and thrown into the water,” he said.

Following the rescue of the boat last week, the Pakistani government sent an investigative team to Rabat to look into the allegations. However, their report has not yet been made public. “We are still conducting investigations and interviewing the survivors about their experiences,” Rabia Kausar, Pakistan’s acting ambassador to Morocco, told Al Jazeera in Rabat, where she has been stationed for two years. She said that investigators are still “trying to figure out the details of what happened during the boat’s time at sea.”

Despite being one of the most affluent regions of Pakistan and home to the manufacturing of various electronics such as refrigerators, fans, sporting goods, and medical supplies, the districts of Gujrat, Sialkot, Jhelum, and Mandi Bahauddin in Punjab have been a hub for people seeking to migrate to Europe for decades. According to Frontex, the EU’s border and coast guard agency, nearly 150,000 irregular migrants from Pakistan have reached Europe via land and sea routes since 2009, when the agency began recording entries into the EU.

Most Pakistanis heading to Europe typically travel first to the United Arab Emirates before flying to Egypt and Libya, and then attempting the crossing of the Mediterranean Sea. Acting envoy Kausar said that the Western Mediterranean route is not common for Pakistanis seeking irregular migration. But Pakistani officials suggest that this route choice may be the result of Frontex and Pakistani authorities trying to tighten restrictions on irregular migration.

Overall, nearly 200,000 people have entered Europe via various Mediterranean routes in 2024, while at least 2,824 have been declared dead or missing, according to the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR). But while these numbers remain high, Frontex reports that irregular border crossings into the EU have decreased by 38 percent in 2024, the lowest level since 2021. Frontex data shows that while slightly more than 10,000 Pakistanis reached Europe in 2023, that number halved the following year, with around 5,000 entering Europe irregularly by land or sea.

Since the sinking of the “Adriana” in June 2023 sparked national outrage, Pakistani authorities say they have strengthened and improved screenings to crack down on human smuggling networks, said Munir Masood Marath, a senior official at Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency. But smugglers, in response, have sought out and found new routes. “It’s a cat and mouse game, as we keep on tracking smuggling networks, they also find different routes to seek and lure people to use those routes,” Marath told Al Jazeera.

Raihan flew from Faisalabad in Punjab to Dubai. Then to Addis Ababa in Ethiopia, and then to Dakar in Senegal. From Dakar, the agent took Raihan and others by land to Nouakchott, north along the Atlantic coast. Aslam said the agent was known to the family. Raihan was not mistreated by the agent or his assistants and was often able to speak to his family back home via phone.

Until his death, Raihan’s journey seemed better than what many undocumented migrants undertaking such journeys have to endure – something Aslam knows from his own experience. More than two decades ago, in 2003, Aslam also attempted a risky journey to Europe – by land to Greece. He, along with 50 to 80 people from the Gujrat region, traveled to Balochistan in southwest Pakistan, where smugglers helped him and others cross the border into Iran.

“We walked for months on end, and when we slowed down, they [the smugglers] would threaten to kill us and sometimes beat us,” he recalled of his journey. But after walking and hiding for nearly two months, when the group finally reached the Turkish border, Aslam gave up and decided to return home. “I just told them I couldn’t go anymore. I showed them the blisters on my feet and begged them to let me go,” he said. They let him go. “It’s a miracle I survived that ordeal,” Aslam added.

Since then, the family has built their businesses, and Aslam, one of five brothers, said they are financially stable. The brothers now run a successful car rental business with a “fleet of 10-15 cars,” as well as a grocery store. They also own a small piece of agricultural land. “We are well off, and Raihan helped me run the business,” Aslam said. “But after failing to get a Canadian or UK visa several times, he decided to take the risk [to travel to Europe without documents].”

Federal Investigation Agency official Marath pointed out that while economic reasons are part of what compels people to undertake such dangerous journeys, there are also social factors. Families, even those who are financially stable, see the sons of their neighbors, friends, and relatives successfully reach Europe and flaunt their elevated social status. Aslam explained that the lure of wealth, better opportunities, and “a chance to live in a fairer society” motivates people to risk their lives.

“Our society is so corrupt that people don’t even get justice for small things,” he said. “So, when our vehicles are traveling between cities, traffic police often stop people randomly to demand bribes. For many, it’s part of doing business here, but for someone like my brother, they’ve had enough.” Ghorsi also recalled that his nephews had been working in a construction company in Dubai, which he helped establish, before they decided to pursue their European dream.

“These two boys were always looking for ways to reach Europe. They saw the lifestyles of some of our villagers who had successfully sent their children to Europe, and how that had elevated their social status. So, these two also wanted to try their luck,” he added. Despite his own journey in 2003 and his nephew's death in January, Aslam remains resigned – almost as if he is accepting the dangerous decision that led to Raihan’s death. “Our brother made this choice,” he said. “We knew the risks and yet we allowed it.”