EPA/GIUSEPPE LAMI
At least 29 people on board a migrant boat drowned after the boat capsized off the Egyptian coast, officials from the Ministry of Health announced on Wednesday.
According to state news agency MENA, rescue workers have saved 150 of the 600 migrants on board the boat.
The boat was carrying Egyptian, Syrian and African migrants, sources told Reuters.
It remains unclear where the boat was heading but, according to Reuters, security sources believe its destination was Italy.
Over 40,000 migrants have crossed the central Mediterranean to Italy this year and a total of 2,800 deaths were recorded between January and June of 2016.
In April, 400 refugees traveling from Egypt to Italy drowned in the Mediterranean, with the majority of the migrants originating from North Somalia.
In June, a Dutch marine ship rescued nearly 200 migrants, including 17 children and 2 pregnant women, from a sinking boat in the Mediterranean that was en route to the Italian island of Sicily.
Over the past year, Egypt’s navy has foiled a number of “illegal crossings” via the Mediterranean, often publishing photographs of the thwarted attempts.
This story is developing.
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