RAWALPINDI: Tanzeel-ur-Rehman — an 18-year-old student hailing from Sambrial in Sialkot district — braved hellish circumstances and beat many odds to be on a smugglers’ boat headed for Europe, only to meet his death when the vessel capsized off Libya on the last day of last month.

His body was brought back to the country on Wednesday, as were those of 10 other Pakistanis who died in the incident.

Tanzeel was waiting for results of his matric exams when he left for Italy in August last year in search of a better life, said one of his cousins who had come to the Benazir Bhutto Inter­national Airport’s cargo section to collect his body.

“When Tanzeel reached Libya via Sudan along with another cousin of his, Mohsin Ali, for onward journey to Italy they were kidnapped by a gang of human smugglers,” Usman Hussain told Dawn.

The gang members tortured the two men and demanded a hefty ransom. They were finally released when $8,000 was paid to a person in Sudan, he said.

Two of the men had been advised not to take undue risks to get to Europe

“When they were set free by the kidnappers they naturally thought most of their troubles were over. Little did they realise that more troubles awaited them,” said Hussain.

When the ill-fated boat capsized, Mohsin managed to survive but Tanzeel was not so lucky. “Mohsin lost his passport in the incident; that’s why he hasn’t been able to return home yet.”

The names of the people other than Tanzeel whose bodies have been brought back to the country are: Ikram-ul-Haq and Muhammad Qasim Baig of Mandi Bahauddin; Mirza Ghulam Fareed of Rawalpindi; Muhammad Aziz of Sargodha; and Waleed Akram, Luqman Ali, Kashif Jamil, Azmat Bibi, Mazhar Hussain and Farhan Ali of Gujrat.

The relatives of Azmat Bibi, wife of Muhammad Ismail, were at the airport to collect her body. But they may have to visit the airport again later too, because the bodies of her two sons and husband, who were on the vessel with her, have yet to be found.

The 19-year-old Ikram-ul-Haq’s story is no less tragic, according to his relatives. That’s because he was doing quite well in Dubai when he decided to move to Europe and lost his life in the process.

Ikram’s elder brother, Hasnat Asghar, said he talked to his brother by telephone two days before the incident. “He told me that he would call me after reaching Italy.”

Asghar revealed that his family had told Ikram not to board the boat simply because he had quite a good job in Dubai.

Ghulam Rabbani, the younger brother of Ghulam Fareed, who also died in the incident, said his brother had left behind a widow, two sons and three daughters to mourn his death.

Fareed too had been advised not to attempt to reach Europe by sea. “Before leaving for the Libyan coast to board the boat, Ghulam Fareed talked to his wife by phone, who urged him not to take too many risks,” said Rabbani.

Published in Dawn, February 15th, 2018