ROSETTA, Egypt: Rescuers brought more bodies ashore Thursday after a boat crowded with migrants capsized off the Egyptian coast, leaving at least 55 people dead and dozens missing.
\nSurvivors said up to 450 migrants had been aboard the fishing vessel when it sank on Wednesday about 12 kilometres (eight miles) from Egypt\u2019s Mediterranean port city of Rosetta.
\nA health ministry official said 55 bodies had been retrieved. According to the military, 163 survivors have been rescued.
\nAuthorities have arrested four suspected human traffickers over the tragedy, the latest in what the UN refugee agency expects to be the deadliest year on record for the Mediterranean.
\nMilitary boats were seen bringing corpses to shore in body bags, one containing the body of a child whose grandfather recognised him and knelt down in shock.
\nRescuers said the search would focus on the boat\u2019s cold storage room where witnesses said about 100 people had been when the vessel flipped over.
\n“The death toll is going to rise,” a medical source told AFP.”On the boat there is a hold used to store fish. It hasn\u2019t been opened and there must be a lot of people inside.”
\nThe accident comes months after the EU\u2019s border agency Frontex warned that growing numbers of Europe-bound migrants were using Egypt as a departure point for the dangerous journey.
\nTraffickers often overload the boats, some of them scarcely seaworthy, with passengers who have paid for the crossing.
\nOn a beach near Rosetta on Thursday, a small crowd gathered with some reading verses from the Koran and others desperately seeking information on relatives who may have been on board.
\nMany survivors were in police custody. A prosecution official said they would be treated like “victims and not perpetrators” and would be released.
\nWitnesses spoke of the harrowing moment their vessel keeled over due to overcrowding, as well as the agonising hours-long wait for help to arrive.
\n\u2018Like the apocalypse\u2019”There were 200 of us and the boat was already full, 200 more then arrived. The boat tilted to the side then began to sink,” said Ahmed Mohamed, a 27-year-old Egyptian.
\n“It was like the apocalypse. Everyone tried to get out alive. I swam for 10 kilometres.”
\nAnother survivor, 17-year-old Ahmed Gamal said: “I just wanted to reach Europe and live a decent life”.
\nA municipal official in Rosetta said the dead included one child, 10 women and 31 young men.
\nThe International Organization for Migration said those rescued included 111 Egyptians, 26 Sudanese, 13 Eritreans, a Syrian and an Ethiopian.
\nJudicial and security officials said the four people detained over the tragedy were accused of involuntary manslaughter and human trafficking.
\nMore than 10,000 people have died attempting to cross the Mediterranean to Europe since 2014, according to the United Nations.
\nAfter Balkan countries closed the popular overland route in March and the EU agreed a deal with Turkey to halt departures, asylum-seekers turned to other ways to reach Europe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ROSETTA, Egypt: Rescuers brought more bodies ashore Thursday after a boat crowded with migrants capsized off the Egyptian coast, leaving at least 55 people dead and dozens missing. Survivors said up to 450 migrants had been aboard the fishing vessel when it sank on Wednesday about 12 kilometres (eight miles) from Egypt\u2019s Mediterranean port city […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4019,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-4013","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n