http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/22/world/middleeast/migrant-boat-capsizes-off-egypt.html 2016-09-21 23:31:19 Migrant Boat Capsizes Off Egypt, Killing at Least 29 The boat, said to be carrying 600 people, was carrying migrants from several African countries, the Egyptian authorities said. === CAIRO — A boat carrying African migrants headed for Europe capsized in the Mediterranean Sea near the Egyptian city of Alexandria on Wednesday, killing at least 29 people, the Egyptian authorities said. A Health Ministry spokesman, Khaled Megahed, said the total number of dead was still unknown. An official from Beheira Province, Alaa Osman, said the migrants were from several African countries. He added that 155 people had been rescued so far but that bodies were still being pulled from the water. Egypt Thousands of migrants fleeing war and poverty have The number of migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean to Europe from Egypt has increased significantly in the past year, Frontex, the European Union border agency, said this month. More than 12,000 migrants arrived in Italy from Egypt from January to this month, compared with 7,000 in the same period last year, the agency said. Experts say smugglers in Egypt mostly use old fishing vessels, stuffed far beyond capacity both below and above deck. New and more dangerous smuggling practices and attempts to reach Europe by riskier routes have led to more deaths of migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean, the International Organization for Migration said in a report last month. The report said newer routes, particularly from Egypt, were longer and riskier, leading to search-and-rescue efforts that were often carried out farther from land. It said 2,901 people had died or disappeared crossing the Mediterranean in the first six months of 2016, a 37 percent increase over the first six months of last year. In May, The migrant crisis has proved deeply divisive in Europe, which has struggled to come up with a unified response. Right-wing nationalist parties opposed to taking in more migrants and refugees have made gains, including in Germany, which has accepted more migrants than any other European country. Migrants rescued by the Italian Navy near Europe’s southern borders are taken to processing centers and offered accommodation while they apply for asylum. But many of the thousands registered each month travel on toward Europe’s richer north, in hopes of settling there. More than 60,000 migrants and refugees are stranded in Greece — just across the Mediterranean from Egypt — and those who arrived after March 20 have been restricted to five islands in the Aegean Sea under a