A boat with 600 immigrants capsized near Egypt: at least 20 refugees died

World News Nilgun Salim
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A rescue boat carrying 600 immigrants sank Wednesday in the Mediterranean, near the coast of Egypt. According to Mena News Agency, the authorities managed to save only 150 people.

‘A ship carrying immigrants illegally sank in the Mediterranean, near the Egyptian hometown of Kafr al-Sheikh. There were 600 immigrants on board’, said an Egyptian official quoted by Mena.

The rescue teams saved 150 people and recovered 29 corpses. The immigrants on board were from Africa and the Middle East and they were heading towards Europe.

The tragedy comes a few months after the EU leadership warned the state members about the growing number of Europe-bound migrants who considered Egypt a departure point for their risky journey.

‘Egypt is starting to become a departure country’ Frontex chief Fabrice Leggeri said in an interview with the Funke group of German regional newspapers in June.

It was not clear in which EU state the migrants were headed, though some security sources said they believed it was going to Italy.

More and more refugees are struggling to reach in Italy through the North African coastline in the recent months, particularly from Libya, where people-traffickers operate with relative impunity, but also from Egypt.

‘This crisis is a test of our common humanity — whether we give in to suspicion and fear and build walls, or whether we see ourselves in another. Those girls being trafficked and tortured, they could be our daughters.  That little boy on the beach could be our son or our grandson.  We cannot avert our eyes or turn our backs’ stated Barack Obama, during the special summit on the refugee crisis in New York.