Rabie al-Sokkari
CAIRO (AA) – The death toll from a boat carrying undocumented migrants that sank off Egypt’s northern coast earlier this week has risen to 51, a local official said Friday.
"Security forces have recovered nine more bodies," Mohamed Sultan, governor of Egypt’s northern Beheira province, told Anadolu Agency.
The boat, which had reportedly been carrying hundreds of undocumented migrants of various nationalities, sank Wednesday in the Mediterranean Sea north of Beheira’s port city of Rashid (Rosetta).
Bodies recovered so far include eight African nationals and one Egyptian child, according to Sultan.
Egypt’s state-run media earlier reported that at least 600 people had been aboard the ill-fated vessel.
Egypt’s coasts are among the main transit routes used by undocumented migrants from Africa and Asia hoping to make the sea journey to Europe.