ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan's prime minister on Tuesday expressed his deep grief and sorrow over the deaths of an unspecified number of his countrymen over the weekend when a boat carrying Europe-bound migrants sank near the Libyan coast.

The boat capsized on Saturday in the Marsa Dela port in the western city of Zawiya, leaving dozens of Europe-bound migrants dead or missing, according to local authorities in Libya.

The Libyan Red Crescent said its teams recovered 10 bodies and the coast guard was searching for others. Pakistan says an estimated 65 people were on the boat, and efforts were underway to ascertain information about affected Pakistanis.

In a statement, Shehbaz Sharif ordered the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to complete the process of identifying the victims as soon as possible and to provide all possible assistance to the affected people. He also ordered action against those "involved in heinous acts like human trafficking,” according to a statement.

The latest incident came less than a month after authorities said dozens of Pakistanis died when a boat capsized off West Africa. However, some of the survivors upon their return home insisted that their boat had not capsized and in fact smugglers killed 43 migrants in a dispute over payment.

Hundreds of Pakistanis die every year while trying to reach Europe by land and sea with the help of human smugglers. They also use dangerous land and sea routes to reach Europe in an effort to find good jobs.

Libya, which has borders with six nations and a long shore on the Mediterranean, plunged into chaos following a NATO-backed uprising that toppled and killed longtime autocrat Moammar Gadhafi in 2011. Since then, the oil-rich country has emerged as the dominant transit point for migrants fleeing war and poverty in Africa and the Middle East and seeking better lives in Europe.

According to the International Organization for Migration's missing migrants project, at least 674 migrants were reported dead and more than 1,000 missing off Libya in 2024. More than 21,700 migrants were intercepted and returned to the chaos-stricken country. In 2023, the IOM reported 962 migrants dead and 1,563 missing off Libya.

Around 17,200 migrants were intercepted and returned to Libya in 2023, it said. Those people are held in government-run detention centers rife with abuses, including forced labor, beatings, rapes and torture — practices that amount to crimes against humanity, according to U.N.-commissioned investigators. The abuse often accompanies attempts to extort money from the families of the imprisoned migrants before releasing them or allowing them to leave Libya on traffickers’ boats to Europe.

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Associated Press writer Sam Magdy reported from Cairo.

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