Bodies of 7 Egyptians killed in illegal migration attempt found off Mediterranean coasts

CAIRO – 20 December 2020: The authorities found Saturday the bodies of seven Egyptians who drowned while attempting to illegally migrate through the Mediterranean, as reported by Sky News Arabia.

The bodies were detected off the coast of Saloum city western the country. That is two days after the bodies of three Egyptian children of one family were found by the Libyan coast guards as their parents were trying to illegally migrate from Western Libya. The bodies of the parents have not been found.

Four Egyptian children have drowned along with their families as they were immigrating illegally from Libya to Italy, according to Libyan Red Crescent official Hassan Albi.

Albi added in statements to Youm7 newspaper, Thursday that the Egyptian families had been living in Sabratha city, west of the country.

However, the Red Crescent received a notification about the disappearance of two Egyptian families residing in the city of Sabratha, according to Albi, explaining that the two families tried to immigrate to Italy illegally, but the boat carrying them capsized, indicating that the children included an Egyptian girl aged 5 years and three children of varying ages between 7 ,8 and 10 years.

The Libyan official indicated that the Red Crescent in Zawiya city, is carrying out several operations to search for other missing family members.

Up to 25 people are the total number of immigrants who were on board of the boat according to sources from Sabratha who talked with Albi; however, the rescuing and searching operations are still on going.

Egypt has not recorded any case of illegal immigration since 2016 according to Egypt’s presidency spokesperson Bassam Rady.

A month ago, a boat carrying dozens of illegal migrants capsized off Libyan coasts resulting in 100 victims.

The UN refugee agency stated in February that the total number of migrants intercepted by the Libyan coast guard in January rose 121 percent from the same period last year.

The UNHCR said in January alone, it registered 1,040 refugees and migrants the coast guard stopped and brought back to Libyan shores, a dramatic increase from the 469 rescued that month the year before.

The UNHCR classified the population as 70 percent men, 18 percent women and 12 percent children.