UPDATE: Death toll rises to 87 after boat capsizes off Egypt's coast

Friday 23-09-2016 12:31 PM

Migrants who were rescued from the boat are rescued. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany

CAIRO, Sept 23(Aswat Masriya) - The death toll of the capsized boat reached 87, after recovering 32 more bodies on Friday,Egypt’s undersecretary of the Ministry of Health said. 

The boat carrying hundreds, estimated between 450 and 600 migrants, capsized on Wednesday.

The migrants, including Egyptians, Syrians and Africans, were believed to be heading to Italy, a main destination for illegal migrants across the Mediterranean. 

It sank in the Mediterranean Sea off Burg Rashid, a village in the northern Beheira province.

The undersecretary of the health ministry Alaa Othman said that the 32 recovered bodies included Egyptians, Arabs and Africans.

On Thursday, four people suspected of human trafficking were arrested after the incident.

Following the incident the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) in Egypt urged the parliament to ratify a law against human smuggling.

A report by the IOM said that in 2015, over 60 percent of international migrants from MENA are originally from the Syria, followed by the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Egypt and Morocco.

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