Four crew members were arrested Thursday after a boat believed to be carrying 450 migrants capsized off the Egyptian coast, according to state-run Nile TV.
The men were detained on possible charges of “human trafficking and involuntary manslaughter.” One of them is the owner of the vessel.
Hundreds of migrants are feared dead after Wednesday’s sinking, with just 163 people rescued and 43 bodies recovered, the country’s military said in a statement.
The boat had set off from Egypt and was heading for Italy when it was found 12 nautical miles northeast of the town of Rashid — also known as Rosetta — in El Beheira Governorate on Wednesday afternoon.
Initial estimates had put the number of people on board at 600.
Mahmoud Aly spent Wednesday going between hospitals along the coast. His brother and cousin were on the boat.
He told CNN his cousin was rescued but his 24-year-old brother is missing. “The boat had more people than it could take. It’s a wooden boat,” he said.
He said his family would spend the night on the beach waiting for boats to resume the search and rescue efforts at daylight. “We saw the last boat after sunset. Seven people were on board.”
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SOURCE: CNN, Schams Elwazer and Sarah Sirgany
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