Pakistani mourners attend funeral for discipline hockey participant who died in migrant boat crash off Italy’s coast

Mourners attended the funeral Friday of a Pakistani feminine discipline hockey participant who died in a migrant boat crash off Italy’s coast final month, sending a wave of shock and grief by way of this impoverished Islamic nation.

The boat carrying the athlete, Shahida Raza, and 170 others set sail from the Turkish port of Izmir final month. Aboard had been folks from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran and different international locations who had been in search of a greater high quality of life in Europe. It broke aside in tough waters off Calabria, killing Raza and not less than 66 others.

Raza’s funeral and burial befell in Quetta, the capital of southwestern Baluchistan province, a day after her physique was repatriated from Italy with assist from the nation’s Foreign Ministry.

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Raza’s household stated the athlete tried to to migrate to Europe to discover a good job and earn cash for the remedy of her disabled son, 3, so he might dwell a traditional life. The boy, who was not on the boat, suffered mind harm as a child and can also be paralyzed on one facet of his physique. He remained in Pakistan.

Sister Sadia Raza, middle, relative Naimatullah Hazara, left, and buddy Sumiaya Kianat, proper, of Pakistani discipline hockey participant Shahida Raza, who died within the shipwreck tragedy, attend her funeral, in Quetta, Pakistan, on March 17, 2023.  (AP Photo/Arshad Butt)

The athlete’s youthful sister, Sadia Raza, stated on Friday that her elder sister went on the voyage on account of monetary issues.

“She gave her life only for her sick youngster,” the athlete’s sister stated. She thanked the federal government for bringing again Raza’s physique in order that she will be buried in her personal nation.

Photographs of Raza donning the nation’s nationwide colours and sporting accolades have appeared on tv and social media. But most individuals got here to know of her after her demise, as ladies’s sports activities aren’t extensively televised in Pakistan.