QUETTA, Pakistan — Mourners attended the funeral Friday of a Pakistani feminine subject 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 have been individuals from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran and different nations who have been searching for a greater high quality of life in Europe. It broke aside in tough waters off Calabria, killing Raza and a minimum of 66 others.

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

Raza’s household mentioned the athlete tried to to migrate to Europe to discover a good job and earn cash for the therapy of her disabled son, 3, so he may stay a standard life. The boy, who was not on the boat, suffered mind injury as a child and can be paralyzed on one facet of his physique. He remained in Pakistan.

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

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

Images of Raza donning the nation’s nationwide colours and sporting accolades have appeared on tv and social media. However most individuals got here to know of her after her demise, as ladies’s sports activities are usually not broadly televised in Pakistan.