Yahia Saleh was preparing to board a migrant ship from war-torn Libya to Europe when Sabah Abd Rabu Hussein last spoke with him. This occurred two weeks ago.
The Egyptian housewife claimed on Sunday that she had asked him not to leave but that he had become weary of our challenging (living) circumstances.
On June 9, the 18-year-old was travelling on a vintage fishing trawler that had set off from the eastern Libyan port of Tobruk. Like many other young men from his town in the Nile Delta of Egypt, he was travelling to Italy.
The boat that overturned and sank off the coast of Greece in one of the deepest regions of the Mediterranean Sea may have had as many as 750 migrants on board, including women and children.
Only 104 people lived. By Monday, Greek authorities had recovered 80 remains, decreasing the likelihood of discovering any other survivors.
The shipwreck raises concerns and fury over how European authorities have handled the surge of migrants since it appears to be one of the biggest tragedies in the Mediterranean in recent memory.
Like many other family members, Saleh’s parents are unaware of their son’s whereabouts. He left home less than a month ago without informing his family of his plans. He was the second of four children born to a farming family.
The family hails from Ibrash, a farming community in Sharqia’s Nile Delta province, where vehicles, motorcycles, and three-wheeled rickshaws known as tuk-tuks share the same dirt roads as water buffalos, cows, and donkeys.
Many of the young men and teenagers in the area have risked their lives travelling to Libya in the hope of travelling over the Mediterranean Sea to Europe.
Five people who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation from the police said that while some of them were able to travel to Italy, many others were arrested and sent back.
With 105 million citizens, Egypt is the most populous Arab country. In response to a fatal tragedy that occurred in 2016 off the coast of Rossetta, the Mediterranean town, Egypt has closed its maritime borders to migrant boats.
The government makes regular attempts to deter young men from migrating illegally, but the nation’s economic turmoil has driven many of them to attempt to leave despite the risks.
In the days following the crash, Greek authorities detained nine Egyptian men and accused them of transporting people and taking part in a criminal business.
The country of Libya, which is close by, has been a popular transit destination for those fleeing the violence and poverty in Africa and the larger Middle East.
On foot, they journey thousands of kilometres (miles) to the Libyan coast, where human traffickers load them onto rickety boats bound for Europe.
Numerous Egyptians, including as many as 35 from Saleh’s hometown, were aboard the trawler. Relatives claim that only six people are known to have survived the shipwreck.
