Outraged relatives of a man drowned in an illegal migrant boat disaster off the coast of Behaira governorate surrounded Rashid General Hospital last night, blocking all entrances, after the man's body could not be located.
Al-sayyed Sha'alan said that the corpse of his 18-year-old son Mohamed has been pulled from the Mediterranean Sea on Friday and was recognized and given the number 63. However, the father later said he couldn't find the body.
He said he contacted the governor who referred him to the Ambulance Authority, which checked out hospitals in four governorates, where many bodies from the disaster had been transferred after the local hospital became overloaded. So far, the corpse has not been located.
"God returned the corpse of my son to me, but the government wasted it," said the father.
Colonel Khaled Fath al-Bab, chief of police in Rashid, told the relatives, who had surrounded the hospital, to disperse so that a proper search for the body could be conducted.
The corpses of many victims have been transferred to dozens of hospitals in Behaira and adjacent governorates. No one hospital was equipped to deal with the large number of dead bodies resulting from the tragedy.
Egyptian security forces and border guards have recovered at least 164 dead bodies from the Mediterranean so far after a boat capsized while carrying around 600 illegal migrants on their journey to Europe from Beheira governorate.
Human traffickers had taken money from several hundred people on the promise of helping them travel illegally by sea to Europe. The migrants were transferred to a boat off the Beheira coast, but the ship soon became overloaded and capsized, with many drowning before rescuers could arrive.
The disaster is the latest in a string of tragic incidents in recent years as millions of people from Africa and the Middle East attempt to make their way to Europe, some fleeing poverty, others warfare and terrorism. Swamped by refugees and illegal immigrants, European nations have called on Mediterranean nations to patrol their coastlines and borders in order to stop the flow, while cracking down on people smuggling operations.
Human traffickers often charge huge amounts of money for transport to Europe, but the journey is dangerous and the transport often sub-standard. People-smuggling operations, which make huge amounts of money, have been linked to both organized crime and terrorism in the region.
Egyptian military and security forces are working to halt human trafficking, and they often announce successes in foiling illegal migration attempts by both land and sea. Four members of the boat crew involved in the recent tragedy have been detained by authorities pending an investigation.
