CAIRO (AA): The death toll now stands at 166 after a boat carrying undocumented migrants sank off Egypt’s northern coast earlier this week, a local official said Saturday.

Mutubas district Mayor Abdul Sattar said security forces and fishermen have recovered the bodies.

The boat, which had reportedly been carrying hundreds of undocumented migrants of various nationalities, sank Wednesday in the Mediterranean Sea north of Beheira’s port city of Rashid.

The bodies of eight African nationals and one Egyptian child were recovered Thursday, local authorities said.

Egypt’s state-run media earlier reported that at least 600 people had been aboard the ill-fated vessel.

Egypt’s Mediterranean and Red Sea coasts are among the main transit routes used by undocumented migrants from Africa and Asia hoping to make the perilous sea journey to Europe.
Author Ayşe Hümeyra Atılgan

[Photo: Survivors, rescued by Egyptian Coast Guard members from a boat submerged on its way to Europe at the Mediterranean Sea, are seen on the ground after they detained at Rashid Police Station in Beheira, Egypt on September 22, 2016.  Photographer: Ahmed Al Sayed/AA]