Death toll in Mediterranean’s Egyptian migrant boat accident reaches 162

More than 150 bodies have been found after a boat carrying hundreds of migrants capsized off an Egyptian coastal town this week, a provincial official says.

Wahdan el-Sayyed, a spokesman for the northern province, said the search was ongoing.

A total of 164 people have been rescued since the boat sank on Wednesday off Beheira’s town of Rosetta, Sultan said, according to privately owned newspaper al-Masri al-Youm. Many of them are believed to be children and women who were unable to swim away when the boat sank.

He added that numerous migrants are believed to have been “stored in the bottom of the boat, in the fridge”.

The passengers of the ill-fated boat included residents of Sudan, Ethiopia and Eritrea, as well as Egypt.

The fatality rate has risen, despite a decrease in the member of refugees trying to reach Europe, with United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) calling 2016 “the deadliest year on record in the Mediterranean Sea”.

“On Thursday, Egyptian authorities jailed the four crew members pending an inquiry into the accident, which is the deadliest of its kind in recent years”.

On Thursday, Egyptian prosecutors ordered the arrest and detention of the four crew members for four days pending investigation over charges of human trafficking, wrongful death, wrongful injury and using a fishing boat for another goal.

The Egyptian Mediterranean coastline has been one of the main departure points for migrant boats. Women screamed and relatives pushed and shoved while swarming ambulances heading to the hospital. “We threw the ropes, we pulled them in, and many were unconscious”.

One survivor Ahmed Darwish said that there were more than 500 people on board the boat when it sank. Fishing boats in the vicinity were the first to provide help.

Meanwhile, the fishermen who launched the rescue operation after the incident took place said they managed to save 169 people. Some of the interviewees said the traffickers asked for $6250 per family, to be given on arrival in Italy. It said that 300,000 have crossed the Mediterranean this year, mostly landing in Greece and Italy.

Those who chose to risk the risky journey often are fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East and elsewhere.