CAIRO: Ambassador Ahmed Qwesny told the press Thursday that one of the Egyptian survivors of a boat accident off the Turkish coast was able to identify the bodies of seven of the alleged 32 Egyptians who were also on board.
Qwesny, deputy foreign minister for consular affaires, stressed that the ministry is coordinating with the rescue team of Izmir in Turkey to locate and identify the rest of the victims.
On a related note, the UN refugee agency announced Friday that more than 200 migrants are feared to have drowned at sea in separate incidents off Yemen, Turkey and the Canary Islands so far this month.
The death toll from the Turkish coast incident on Saturday could rise to 86, said Jennifer Pagonis, spokeswoman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
Pagonis said 51 people are known to have drowned when a boat carrying migrants from Turkey to Greece sank in rough weather off a town 50 km southwest of Izmir. An additional 35 people are missing and presumed dead, she added.
Up to 90 migrants have been missing since they tried to cross from Senegal and Western Sahara to the Canary Islands, Pagonis said.
And 31 people were drowned or missing in trying to reach Yemen from the Horn of Africa between Dec. 5 and 12, she said.
“Tens of thousands of boat people risk their lives each year in the Mediterranean, the Gulf of Aden, the Caribbean and off the coast of West Africa,” Pagonis said. “Many are migrants seeking a better life, but some are also refugees fleeing persecution and violence.”
