Egyptian rescue workers have recovered 168 bodies from a migrant shipwreck off Egypt's Mediterranean coast, the health ministry said Sunday (September 25th).
Survivors have said up to 450 migrants were on board the overcrowded fishing vessel headed to Italy from Egypt when it capsized Wednesday off the port city of Rosetta, AFP reported.
Egypt's military said it had rescued 163 survivors and that recovery attempts are continuing.
The International Organisation for Migration said most of those rescued were Egyptians but they also included Sudanese, Eritreans, a Syrian and an Ethiopian.
The tragedy sparked an emergency cabinet meeting and also topped the agenda of talks between President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Egypt's security chiefs on Saturday.
Al-Sisi called for the prosecution of "wrongdoers", saying they "violated Egyptian and international law and used illegal methods to transport this number of Egyptian citizens and foreigners", Egypt's Ahram Online reported.
Prime Minister Sherif Ismail ordered heightened patrols of harbours used by migrant boats and of the northern coastline. He also called on the government to organise awareness campaigns on the dangers of illegal migration "especially during the hard conditions facing the region".
Egypt already outlaws all forms of human trafficking with its 2010 anti-trafficking law (Law No. 64), which stipulates punishments from 3 to 15 years imprisonment along with monetary fines.
Its parliament is working to update existing legislation to include "deterrent penalties" against human trafficking.
Egyptian authorities have so far in 2016 foiled 110 attempts to smuggle migrants to Europe, Interior Minister Magdy Abdel Ghaffar told the cabinet.
