For decades, human traffickers have taken two different routes to transport people from Pakistan to Europe. The routes, identified from the accounts of immigrants reported in various print and digital media publications, have been mapped here.

The first route begins at Pakistan’s Taftan border crossing with Iran and then passes through Mashhad and Maku in the neighbouring country. Traversing Turkey, it finally reaches the Greek border, which serves as the gateway to Europe.

On this route, immigrants typically travel by truck but also cover hundreds of kilometers on foot.

The route holds significance as it is considered the oldest trade route used by Pakistan’s human traffickers to enter Europe.

The second route starts from Karachi. Immigrants travel directly to Cairo, Egypt either by a single flight or by connecting flights via Dubai.

From there, they navigate the sea keeping close to the Egyptian and Libyan shorelines. The journey begins in Egypt and ends either at Tobruk or Ben Ghazi in Libya in its first leg.

On the second leg, the migrants try to cross the Mediterranean Sea and enter Italy.

The hundreds of Pakistanis who drowned in the Greece boat tragedy had apparently taken this route. Their boat had left Tobruk five days before it sank near the Peloponnese peninsula of Itlay.

Read: Data: Where are Pakistani migrants heading to and who is accepting them

The boat was carrying between 750 and 800 people. The final number of Pakistanis is not clear, but officials said there were around 300 on the boat.

Greece was never a destination for the boat due to its strict border control. The migrants on board the boat refused help from the coast guards because they feared punitive action from them. They feared being shot dead, according to a source in Pakistan.

In fact, the Libyan route was used only after the journey via land route become impossible due to strict border controls by Greek authorities.