IN a world full of horrors and threats to life, the tragic death by suffocation of 64 young men trapped into a container by a despicable bunch of human smugglers would soon disappear from the minds of newspaper readers. It would be overtaken by another act of violence in a seemingly unending sequence but would continue to rattle the conscience of man, with friends and relatives of the victims cherishing their memories and feeling the loss. But this a preventable loss and the callous agents who seduced them must have known that sooner or later the poor gullibles would be gasping for a fresh breath and eventually die away. Mainly from Afghanistan, there were also Uzbeks among them (some could have travelled from Uzbekistan) and at least one survivor claimed to be from Pakistan's tribal region of North Waziristan. The container originating from Afghanistan had halted at Quetta on its way to Iran from where the would-be immigrants might have been told to sneak into Turkey and onwards into Europe. While the container was at Quetta some passers-bye heard desperate calls from within and had it opened. In the human cargo of more than 110 that it revealed, less than 50 survived who are now under treatment. There is a constant fear of the death toll going up. Ironically, these men were looking forward to better days in a promised land. It falls on the governments in the poorer parts of the world to take adequate precautions and quash the rings of human smugglers. Not only that. It is not too difficult to find out the root causes (lack of education and job opportunities) that push the intending immigrants to take the risk of an illegal and dangerous journey. If the leadership were to inspire confidence among these job seekers that they could have a decent life in their own countries, they would rather prefer staying put in the familiar company of their kith and kin. Plainly, the tragedy points to the neglect the common run of man suffers in the Third World. Can one hope that the death of 64 promising young men would rouse the leadership to devote their energies towards the welfare of their citizens?