The number of Pakistanis who died in a shipwreck off the coast of Greece last week has increased to four, the Foreign Office said on Monday.

“We announce with deep sorrow that, as per the latest information shared by the Greek authorities, four Pakistani nationals have been identified among the dead in Saturday’s incidents of capsized boats in the south of Crete Island of Greece,” the FO said in a statement.

At least five migrants drowned when their wooden boat, carrying many Pakistanis, capsized near Gavdos, Greece’s southern island on Saturday. Witnesses reported that several individuals were still unaccounted for as search operations continued.

In related incidents, a Malta-flagged cargo ship rescued 47 migrants from a vessel approximately 40 nautical miles from Gavdos while a tanker saved another 88 migrants about 28 nautical miles off the island.

On Sunday, the FO confirmed that one Pakistani citizen was among those deceased and that 47 Pakistanis were among those rescued.

The Pakistani mission in Athens was in contact with Greek authorities to facilitate survivors and repatriate the dead bodies, according to the statement.

Greece was a favoured gateway to the European Union for migrants and refugees from the Middle East, Africa and Asia in 2015-2016, when nearly 1 million people landed on its islands, mostly via inflatable dinghies.

Incidents with migrant boats and shipwrecks off Crete and its tiny neighbour Gavdos, which are relatively isolated in the central Mediterranean, have increased over the past year.

In 2023, hundreds of migrants drowned when an overcrowded vessel capsized and sank in international waters off the southwestern Greek coastal town of Pylos. It was one of the deadliest boat disasters ever in the Mediterranean Sea and there were at least 209 Pakistanis on the boat.