97 stopped in illegal migration attempt in Mediterranean

CAIRO – 2 July 2017: Egyptian naval forces foiled an illegal migration attempt by a total of 97 people from different nationalities off Alexandrian shores, Military Spokesperson Tamer el-Refaei said in a Saturday statement.

The unregistered migrants, from Egypt, Eritrea, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Yemen and Chad, were arrested before heading to Europe via the Mediterranean Sea on a boat; the arrested people, along with the boat’s four-member crew, then were escorted to Ras El Tin Palace military base in Alexandria, the statement added.

The military previously announced arresting hundreds of people over illegal immigration at Egypt’s various borders, which have witnessed heightened security measures to curb the practice.

African migrants used to take Mediterranean Sea to arrive in Greece or Italy, the entrance gates to Europe.

Meanwhile, a total of 60 migrants are feared drowned after capsizing their boat, with 150 people on board, in the Mediterranean, International Organization for Migration (IOM) spokesperson Flavio Di Giacomo said on his twitter account. He added that eighty survived.

80 survivors brought to Brindisi reported to IOM staff that their dinghy with abt 140 people on board capsized: abt 60 migrants went missing

— Flavio Di Giacomo (@fladig) June 30, 2017

According to IOM’s latest data, 2,169 migrant deaths in the Mediterranean were reported in 2017, while 1,967 deaths were recorded worldwide in 2017.

A total of 81,292 migrants, including refugees, entered Europe via the Mediterranean in 2017, the IOM said on June 20.