New Delhi, Feb. 18 -- A vessel with 86 migrants including 66 Pakistanis on board left the West African country of Mauritania on January 2 to cross from West Africa to Spain's Canary Islands. The boat capsized off the coast of the disputed region of Western Sahara, near Morocco, remained stranded in the ocean but stayed adrift for 13 days. Only 19 people survived the 13-day ordeal.

The survivors claimed that only eight dead bodies reached the shore, while the remaining bodies were dumped into the sea. The passengers spent those days of anguish on the crossing without anyone coming to rescue them. Moroccan authorities rescued 36 people while forty-four of those drowned were from Pakistan and count among the dead. They died on the migrant b...