Death toll rises to 52 after migrant boat capsizes off Egypt
Nine more bodies have been recovered from the Mediterranean a day after a boat carrying hundreds of migrants capsized off the coast of Egypt, officials said on September 22, bringing the death toll to 52.
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Police arrested four members of the boat's crew. Security sources said it had been loaded with almost 600 migrants.
The boat sank early on September 21 off Burg Rashed, a village in Egypt's northern Beheira province where the Nile meets the Mediterranean. Rescue workers and fishermen have rescued 169 people, suggesting hundreds might have perished at sea.
A survivor whose comments appeared in a video posted online said the migrants had been told that about 200 people would be on board but the smugglers had added another 50, causing the boat to founder.
It was not immediately possible to verify the differing accounts, but the survivor's comments suggest fewer people might be missing than initially thought.
Prosecutors ordered that the four crew who were rescued from the shipwreck be detained for four days pending an investigation. Rescued migrants have been questioned and freed.
Egyptian Prime Minister Sherif Ismail pledged the government's full support for the rescue mission and said those responsible for the incident must be brought to justice.
The boat was carrying Egyptian, Sudanese, Eritrean and Somali migrants, officials said. It was not immediately clear where the vessel was heading, though officials said they believed it was going to Italy.
