Border guards in Alexandria recovered three more bodies after a boat carrying illegal migrants sank in the Mediterranean Sea while en route to Greece.
Two of the bodies were identified as students from Daqahlia, between 20 and 22 years old, and the third remains unidentified.
The three were taking a boat carrying 13 people that was supposed to sail them across the Mediterranean to a larger vessel waiting in the middle of the sea. Five bodies were recovered earlier. Only five, including the boat’s sailor, survived.
Police arrested 15 people involved in facilitating the illegal trip.
Illegal migration from Egypt to Europe has been on the rise over the past few years, turning deadly on many occasions due to the poor conditions of boats smugglers use to transmit the migrants.
The International Organization for Migration said in October that more than 2,900 illegal migrants died in the Mediterranean on their way to Europe in 2015.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
