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Shahida Raza belonged to the persecuted Hazara minority
Photo: Pakistan Hockey Federation
On Sunday, a fishing boat with 120 refugees, mainly from Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan, was shipwrecked off the southern Italian coast.
At least 67 people were killed, including former Pakistan women's national hockey team captain Shahida Raza.
The Italian media report.
The wooden ship left Izmir in Turkey and hit a rock in rough seas off the coast of the southern Italian city of Crotone and broke in two.
The wreckage was found scattered up to 300 meters off the coast, it said.
The international, who also used to play football in the domestic league for Balochistan United, lived in Quetta near the Afghan border.
By fleeing, she wanted to escape the persecution of women in her country and her ethnic group, the Hazara.
In addition, she wanted to organize medical help for her three-year-old son abroad, but according to the family, he was not on board.
"He is doing very badly, part of his brain was damaged when he suffered a stroke at the age of 40 days due to a fever," Raza's sister Saadia told the BBC.
Hospitals in Karachi could not offer her son any treatment, the only hope was abroad, where Reza wanted to bring her son.
Saadia Raza said her sister couldn't see her son lying there helpless.
"I want him to be able to walk like normal children, that's my only wish," she is said to have said before leaving.
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