Egypt Arrests 200 Migrants en Route to Europe

The Egyptian navy has seized three fishing boats in the Mediterranean carrying 200 migrants and arrested several crew members, the military said on Tuesday.

“Naval forces, as part of their mission to secure the Mediterranean coast, spotted three suspicious fishing boats off the coast of Alexandria,” the military said.

“While inspecting them, they found, in addition to several crew, 200 people of different nationalities who were trying to emigrate illegally from Egypt,” the statement said.

Among the two hundred fifty are from Somalia and the rest are Ethiopia and Eretria, said source.

The move comes barely a day after Somali government said between 200 and 300 Somalis may have drowned in the Mediterranean Sea while trying to cross illegally to Europe.

“We have no fixed number but it is between 200 and 300 Somalis,” Somali Information Minister Mohamed Abdi Hayir told Reuters by telephone when asked about possible Somali deaths in an incident first disclosed by the Italian president. “There is no clear number since they are not travelling legally.”

The joint statement from the president Hassan Sheikh Mohamed, prime minister Omar Abdirashid  and speaker of parliament, Mohamed Shiekh Osman Jawari said 400 migrants, mostly Somalis, drowned in the capsizing in the Mediterranean.

“It’s a painful tragedy which reminds us all how important it is for us to discourage our youth from embarking on such high risk journeys,” the statement said.