Shahida Raza, a Pakistani professional hockey player who perished when the boat she was on capsized off the coast of Italy on Sunday, was attempting to reach Italy so that her three-year-old son could receive medical treatment, according to her sister.
Saadia Raza reported that her older sister called from the ship, which had departed from Turkey four days earlier, and informed her that she was about to arrive in Italy.
Saadia tells us over the phone from her residence in Quetta, southwest Pakistan, “She was thanking God that she was nearly there.” She expressed concern that something could have occurred while she was crossing the water. She said she couldn’t believe it and would contact her son and bring him in for treatment when she arrived.
The contact then ended. They were unable to contact her again.
Shahida was 27 years old when she perished in the shipwreck off the coast of Italy. Passengers on board came from Afghanistan, Somalia, Syria, Pakistan, Iraq, and Iran all attempting to cross illegally to Europe. The wooden boat was believed to be transporting approximately 200 people; over 60 deaths have been confirmed.
Shahida had a very particular purpose for making the dangerous journey, her family tells us.
“The only reason she took this voyage was for her three-year-old son,” Saadia tells us. Part of his brain was injured when he suffered a stroke at 40 days old as a result of a fever. It caused partial brain damage and paralysis on one side of his body, from the cranium to the feet.
Saadia says that despite bringing her son to multiple hospitals in Karachi, none of them were able to treat him. Instead, they suggested Shahida take her son abroad in the hope that they might be able to offer him some treatment there. Shahidi was becoming increasingly despondent.
“She said I can’t see my son like this; my only desire is for him to walk like other children. She didn’t want to see her son lying down helplessly,” Saadia says.
“And she used to make us all laugh but used to weep herself because of her son. When she would gaze at him, her eyes would fill with tears.”
Shahida’s family claims that despite traveling internationally to play, including to Singapore, Thailand, Hong Kong, and Iran, she wasn’t well paid as a professional hockey player for Pakistan’s national team and a national football player.
Shahida’s family says they were unaware of the planned trip or whether she attempted to obtain a visa to travel to Italy legally, but human traffickers often persuade those they abduct that they can settle them abroad more quickly and easily than legal routes. Shahida was able to lawfully enter Turkey on a visa before boarding the ship.
She resided in Balochistan, a sparsely populated and destitute province of Pakistan, and was a member of the Hazara, a minority Shia community that extremist groups frequently target. According to her family, this was not a factor in her decision to flee Pakistan.
A few days before the shipwreck, other Pakistanis perished when a ship attempting to reach Italy sank off the coast of Libya.
“People flee out of desperation; they have no other option,” Saadia says. “Our government is not assisting its people, as evidenced by inflation and the cost of living.”
After a lengthy delay, Shahida’s family discovered the accident online. Since the news emerged, they claim they have not spoken with any government officials.
“It’s like the end of the world for our family,” Saadia says. She begins to weep and interrupts our conversation to collect herself. Family acquaintances have been visiting for the last few days to mourn. Outside the family’s home, the media is congregating. “On the day we learned she had passed away, only we and our Creator knew how we felt.
“We want the government to immediately give over her body. We don’t need anything from anyone else now.”
