ISLAMABAD: The foreign office said on Monday that four Pakistani citizens were missing and 16 had survived after a boat carrying migrants to Europe crashed on rocks near the southern Italian coast, killing dozens.

At least 62 people were killed in Sunday’s disaster, according to Italian authorities and rescuers. Eighty people had survived, but more were believed missing based on survivors’ estimates of up to 200 people being on board.

The foreign office said its diplomats in Italy had met with 16 Pakistani survivors who said 20 Pakistanis in total were on the ship and four remained missing.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had said in a tweet on Monday morning that reports suggested more than two dozen Pakistanis had drowned and that he had asked the foreign office to make checks.

“The reports of the drowning of over two dozen Pakistanis in a boat tragedy in Italy are deeply concerning and worrisome,” PM Shehbaz said in a statement, adding, “I have directed the foreign office to ascertain facts as early as possible and take the nation into confidence.”

Many of the victims washed ashore close to where the vessel sank near Steccato di Cutro, a seaside resort on the eastern coast of Calabria, while some of the bodies were recovered from still-stormy seas.

Earlier, foreign ministry spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra said the ministry had requested Italian authorities for details. The Afghan foreign ministry did not respond immediately to requests for comment.

Dozens of coffins were laid out in a sports hall in the neighbouring town of Crotone ahead of an eventual funeral, as local people left flowers and candles on metal railings outside to show their respect.

Local authorities said 80 people had survived the disaster, but that between 180 to 200 people were believed to have boarded the vessel when it left from Turkey, suggesting many more passengers may have perished or be missing.

The disaster has reopened a debate on migration in Europe and Italy, where the recently elected right-wing government’s tough new laws for migrant rescue charities have drawn criticism from the United Nations and others.

“It is time for silence, prayer, recollection and deep meditation. But it is also a time in which we must responsibly question ourselves about this latest tragedy,” said Bishop Francesco Savino from the nearby Cassano all’Jonio, a Roman Catholic diocese in Calabria.

Italian authorities said many Afghanis and some Iranians had also been aboard the boat.

Hundreds of thousands of migrants have reached Italy by boat over the past decade, fleeing conflict and poverty back home.

The United Nations Missing Migrants Project has also registered more than 20,000 deaths and disappearances in the central Mediterranean since 2014, including more than 220 this year, making it the most dangerous migrant route in the world.

Italy is one of the main landing points for the migrants trying to enter Europe by sea, with many seeking to travel on to northern European nations.

The vast majority of migrant boats set sail from North Africa, but increasing numbers have left from Turkey over the past two years, to avoid lengthy and perilous journeys through Egypt and Libya.

The boat that sank off Calabria departed from the western Turkish port of Izmir about four days ago and was spotted 74 km (46 miles) off the coast late on Saturday by a plane operated by European Union border agency Frontex.

An initial attempt to reach the vessel was thwarted by bad weather, police said.

One survivor was arrested on migrant trafficking charges on Sunday, but the Guardia di Finanza customs police said two more people were suspected of having aided the alleged smuggler.

Charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF), operating on the ground, said they were assisting several people who had lost relatives in the shipwreck.

“We have cases of children who became orphans, such as a 12-year-old Afghan boy who lost his entire family, a family of nine people, including four siblings, parents and other close relatives,” said Sergio Di Dato, from MSF.