ISLAMABAD - More than 40 Pakistanis are expected to have drowned after a boat capsized off the West African Atlantic coastline. The coastline has become a major departure point for migrants heading to Europe.

President Asif Ali Zardari expressed sadness over the deaths and stressed the need for strict measures to curb human trafficking.

Zardari's comments in a statement late Thursday came after Spain-based migrant rights group Walking the Borders said 50 people had died en route to the Canary Islands, 44 of them Pakistanis . The group said the migrants began their journey on January 2.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also expressed condolences for the victims.

Pakistan said its embassy in Morocco had learned that a boat carrying 80 passengers, including some Pakistanis, capsized near the Moroccan-controlled port city of Dakhla in the disputed Western Sahara region from Mauritania.

Nearly all the Pakistanis on board were from cities in the eastern province of Punjab. Officials said some survivors were in contact with family members and relatives were gathering at the victims' homes.

In the village of Dora in the Punjab state of Gujarat, Ahsan Shehzad said his son Sufyan Ali died when his boat capsized. He said his son sent a voice message to his mobile phone saying that the boat they were on was overcrowded and that 25 other people had been forcibly boarded.

He urged the government to work to repatriate the bodies of his son and nephew, who also died.

Mourners also gathered in Jura, another village in the state of Gujarat, where Mohammad Akram said he lost his son Abu Bakar in the boat capsize. He said he paid millions of rupees to human traffickers to send his son abroad. He said his son flew to Morocco and had no idea Bakar would be put on a boat for his next trip.

In Punjab's Daska city, the families of two men said they had to sell their properties to arrange millions of rupees to pay traffickers to send Arslan Ahmed and Mohammad Alfan to Europe to be traced Good job.

Ahmed's mother said that although she had heard from some survivors' relatives that her son was still alive, she still had not been able to contact him. Arfan's mother Razia Bibi urged authorities to track down her son and bring him back.

Millions of people immigrate to Europe every year, the vast majority through legal and formal channels. Just under 240,000 people crossed into the continent without documents last year, according to EU border agency Frontex.

More dangerous routes are increasingly being used as authorities work to prevent migration and smuggling from Mediterranean countries. Frontex reported that more than 50,000 migrants traveled from northwest Africa to Spain's Canary Islands in 2024, including 178 Pakistanis.

Walking Borders said in a report last week that 9,757 people died or went missing crossing the island, calling the route "the deadliest in the world."

The islands are about 65 miles (105 kilometers) from the nearest point in Africa, but to evade security forces many migrants attempt longer journeys that can take days or weeks. Most flights last year departed from Mauritania, which is at least 473 miles (762 kilometers) from Hierro, the closest island in the Canary Islands.

Pakistan's foreign ministry said several survivors, including Pakistanis, were living in a camp near Dakhla. The Pakistani Embassy in Morocco is in contact with local authorities and officials have traveled to Dakhla to help survivors, according to a statement from the Pakistani embassy in Morocco.

The ministry did not say how many Pakistanis had died. Ministry officials could not immediately be reached for comment Friday.

Hundreds of Pakistanis die every year trying to reach Europe by land and sea with the help of people smugglers.

In 2023, an overcrowded fishing boat carrying migrants, an estimated 350 Pakistanis, sank off Greece. Many people died in one of the deadliest events in the Mediterranean.

Pakistan says it has launched a crackdown on human traffickers.