BURG RASHID, Egypt (Reuters) — Thirty-three bodies were recovered on Tuesday (September 27) as a wreck of a boat that sank off Egypt last week with hundreds of migrants aboard was lifted from the depths, raising the confirmed death toll to 202, a local official said.
The boat capsized off the Mediterranean coast on Sept. 21. Rescue workers and fishermen said they had rescued at least 169 people, but uncertainty remains over how many might still be missing.
“This is something only God knows. There indeed are still some people who have not found their children, who may have been sitting at the back of the boat and swept away by the current. Only God knows what happened to those who haven’t been found,” said local fisherman, Hamada Zamalout, who has been assisting in the rescue operations since the accident.
Regional governor Mohamed Sultan said the number of bodies recovered was “almost final” but rescue workers were still looking for human remains at sea.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Tuesday it believed at least 450 people were aboard the vessel and that about 300 perished in all.
Egyptian security sources initially said there had been almost 600 migrants aboard.
Officials said the boat was carrying Egyptian, Sudanese, Eritrean and Somali migrants, and that they believed it was heading for Italy. Four members of the crew were arrested.
More and more migrants have been trying to cross to Italy from the African coast over the summer months, particularly from Libya, where people-traffickers operate with relative impunity. But boats have increasingly departed from Egypt of late as Libya has slipped deeper into lawlessness.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said on Monday (September 26) that there is “no justification” for these deaths and called for “more secure” borders.
Fisherman Ahmed Fawzy says Egyptian officials need to pay more attention to those in need.
“(I ask) those in power, and the president himself, to pay more attention to the poor who are neglected, and who, because of the high costs of living, the lack of money and income, are willing to throw their lives away, and throw themselves in the sea. So all we want is for them to pay more attention to us and to take better care of the poor.”
The IOM says that more than 3,200 migrants have died while trying to cross the Mediterranean this year, while more than 300,000 have reached European shores. More than 1 million Middle Eastern, African and Asian migrants entered Europe in 2015.
The IOM said the number of migrants to arrive in Europe this year likely would not reach last year’s level, though the number of fatalities was virtually certain to exceed the 2015 total.