17 Egyptian drowned on an illegal immigration boat near Greek coast

CAIRO - 4November 2022: 17 young men from Beheira governorate drowned on an illegal immigration boat heading to Greece, Friday.

Up to 68 people from different nationals were onboard according to Egypt’s immigration Ministry. The Greek Coast Guard rescued only 11 people, including 7 Egyptians.

Egypt’s immigration minister Soha El Gendy offered her condolences to the families of the victims.

El Geny also, contacted Egypt's ambassador to Greece, Omar Amer, to know all the needed information about the sinking of an illegal immigration boat off the Greek coast, and to find out the number of Egyptians on the stricken boat, and whether there were survivors, along with the position of the bodies of the deceased.

The Minister of Immigration said that the Egyptian embassy in Athens reported that the boat sailed from the Turkish city of Izmir heading to Italy, with 68 people on board of different nationalities, including Egyptians, Afghans, Iranians and other nationalities, and the Greek Coast Guard rescued only 11 people, including seven Egyptians.

The Egyptian ambassador in Athens indicated to inform the families of the victims to provide the embassy with recent photos of the victims and passport photos so that the mission can provide the Greek authorities with them and start the process of matching the bodies, knowing that it will not be possible to match the bodies that decomposed from sea factors, which will require DNA analyzes.