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Egypt's Sisi meets with top officials over migrant boat tragedy

Xinhua, September 25, 2016 Adjust font size:

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi met Saturday with the country's top officials to discuss the recent capsized illegal migrant vessel that left at least 162 people dead, official MENA news agency reported.

After meeting with the security committee including the prime minister, the interior minister and the general intelligence chief, the Egyptian president ordered tougher security measures and deterrent punishments against smugglers to limit illegal migration and urged a new anti-illegal-migration law to be soon approved by the parliament.

On Wednesday, while the world leaders including Sisi gathered in New York to seek solutions for immigration problems, a migration boat carrying hundreds capsized off Egypt's northern coast of Rosetta killing dozens of passengers, mostly Egyptians.

"The latest death toll until yesterday (Friday) was 162," the Egyptian Health Ministry's spokesman Khaled Megahed said Saturday, noting the morgues of nearby hospitals were all busy receiving the retrieved bodies.

The Egyptian authorities arrested Thursday four members of the capsized boat crew over human trafficking charges, while a senior official said an anti-illegal-migration bill had been presented by the government to the parliament for approval.

Illegal migration via Egyptian Mediterranean Sea shores rose over the past few years in attempts to reach Europe and flee difficult economic conditions in the financially-struggling Arab country, where unemployment rate hit 12.5 percent according to official reports.

During Saturday's meeting, President Sisi ordered intensive marketing for the government's recent initiative to finance small and tiny enterprises for the youth, for which 200 billion Egyptian pounds (about 22.5 billion U.S. dollars) are allocated.

Experts believe that Egypt has become a more common exporter of illegal migration through its Mediterranean Sea shores to Europe after Libya and Turkey lost their importance for smugglers in favor of the most populous Arab country due to security and other reasons.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said in a report in June that more than 10,000 people have died in attempts to cross the Mediterranean Sea to Europe since 2014. Endit