Egypt arrests owner, crew of ill-fated sea vessel

Mohamed Mahmoud

CAIRO (AA) – The Egyptian authorities on Wednesday arrested the owner and crew of a boat carrying undocumented migrants that sank last week off Egypt’s northern coast killing 204 people on board.

"Security forces have detained 15 people, including the boat’s owner and crew and affiliated middlemen," Egyptian state media quoted Major-General Alaaddin Shawki, head of security in Egypt’s Beheira province, as saying.

According to Shawki, the individuals detained had confessed to playing a role in the tragedy by collecting transit fees from the victims’ families for illegal migration to Europe.

The boat, which had reportedly been carrying hundreds of undocumented migrants of various nationalities, sank last Wednesday in the Mediterranean Sea north of Beheira’s port city of Rashid (Rosetta).

At one point, Egypt’s state-run media had reported that at least 600 people had been aboard the ill-fated vessel when it sank.

Egypt’s Mediterranean and Red Sea coasts are among the main transit routes used by undocumented migrants from Africa and Asia hoping to make the perilous sea journey to Europe.