In mid-May, the foundation “Al-Abireen for Migrant Assistance and Humanitarian Services” announced that local residents had found a small rubber dinghy carrying 17 badly decomposed bodies of irregular migrants, off Abu Ghleila beach in the city of Sidi Barrani, west of Marsa Matrouh governorate, near the Egyptian-Libyan border. The incident renewed attention to the escalating dangers of irregular migration across the Mediterranean, particularly the central route stretching from Libya’s shores toward Europe.
Preliminary indications suggest that the journey departed from the Libyan coast or areas close to it, in an attempt to reach Europe via the Mediterranean. However, those on board perished from hunger and thirst, after the dinghy remained stranded or adrift at sea for a prolonged period that may have stretched to weeks, before waves washed it onto the Egyptian shore.
Egyptian authorities managed to identify the identities of seven Egyptians among the victims through national identity cards found among their belongings. Their ages ranged between 16 and 28, originating from the governorates of Beheira, Gharbia, Dakahlia, Qalyubia, Giza, and Asyut, while the advanced state of decomposition impeded the identification of the remaining bodies.
In the first parliamentary move following the incident, MP Ayman Mohseb submitted a briefing request to the government regarding the surge in irregular migration among Egyptian youth, warning of the growing activity of human smuggling networks via alternative routes passing through Libya, Turkey, and the eastern Mediterranean, despite the official announcement of a halt to boats departing directly from Egyptian shores since 2016.
The MP noted the rise in the number of irregular Egyptian migrants to Europe from 709 cases in 2018 to more than 21,000 in 2022, with high rates persisting through 2023 and Egyptians appearing among the top nationalities reaching Europe via the Mediterranean in 2024 and 2025. He called for a review of current policies, urging that solutions not be limited to security measures, alongside strengthening social protection and the economic and vocational development of youth in the governorates most responsible for migration.
He also notes that this incident is not the first of its kind: ten bodies of irregular migrants, including 8 Egyptians, were found on the “Baq Baq” beach in Sidi Barrani, west of Marsa Matrouh, on June 10, 2025, believed to have come from Libya while en route to Europe via the Mediterranean.
According to the Missing Migrants Project of the International Organization for Migration, more than 32,000 deaths have been documented in the Mediterranean since 2014, while an unknown number remain missing. The early months of 2026 saw a notable rise in victim numbers compared to the same period in the previous year, making the Mediterranean one of the deadliest migration routes in the world.
In the same context, Nour Khalil, researcher in migration and asylum policy and director of the Refugees Platform in Egypt, explains that the condition of the bodies found inside the dinghy off the Sidi Barrani coast indicates that the victims were stranded at sea for a prolonged period that in most cases exceeded ten days, amid high temperatures and without any survival or navigation aids such as a satellite phone, compass, or directional equipment, causing the vessel to lose its course in open water.
He affirms that the incident is not the first of its kind and will not be the last as long as the state continues to approach the migration file from a purely security angle, without addressing the real causes pushing young people and children to risk their lives. He considers that priority must be given to search and rescue operations and migrant protection, not merely to the pursuit of smuggling networks.
He told Zawia3: “European data itself reflects the failure of the current approach, because the number of Egyptians reaching European shores via the Mediterranean has risen in recent years, to the point that Egypt has become one of the highest African nationalities arriving in the European Union, which is evidence that deterrence and security policies have succeeded neither in stopping migration nor in protecting migrants.”
He adds that “turning the migration file into a security and diplomatic matter has led to more violations, rather than addressing the causes that drive people to migrate.”
He holds that the anti-irregular migration law issued in 2016 and its 2022 amendments focused on criminalization and punishment without providing an effective framework for protecting victims or addressing the roots of the phenomenon. He notes that the National Committee to Combat Irregular Migration, the Victim and Witness Protection Fund, and the Whistleblower Protection Fund have not played any genuine role on the ground, at a time when the numbers of victims and missing persons continue to grow.
He also criticizes the European partnerships with Egypt on migration, arguing that European funding designated for what is called migration governance and border control goes primarily toward supporting the security and military approach, without sufficient transparency about how it is spent or what its actual impact is.
He continues: “While European support for returning migrants to North African countries including Egypt is framed as a form of assistance, search and rescue operations are being criminalized, most recently in the Sea Watch 5 case this month, in which Italy opened a criminal investigation against the ship’s captain for allegedly facilitating the irregular arrival of migrants. Amid pushback operations, the blocking of rescues, and the failure of states to fulfill their duty to save lives, thousands go missing, die, or are returned to deadly detention centers.”
Since the tightening of security surveillance on Egyptian shores in 2017, attempts to depart directly from Egypt have declined, while reliance on the central Mediterranean route via Libyan shores has grown, particularly from eastern Libyan areas such as Tobruk, headed toward Italy or Greece, particularly the islands of Crete and Gavdos.
According to data from the European border agency Frontex, 3,292 cases of Egyptian migrants were recorded along the central Mediterranean route to the European Union between January and May 2022, with Egyptian nationality accounting for 20% of arrivals, the highest share. The agency recorded more than 16,000 irregular crossings by Egyptians during 2025, departing from the Libyan coast, including 8,715 who reached Italy and 7,371 who reached Greece, despite a 26% drop in the overall number of people crossing into Europe compared to the previous year.
According to the International Organization for Migration, Egyptians made up the second largest group of irregular migrants who entered the European Union in 2025, after Bangladeshis. According to UNHCR, approximately 26,000 Egyptians are currently seeking asylum in Italy, compared to fewer than 3,000 in France.
Recommended reading: Irregular Migration from Egypt: Government Efforts Only Changed the Route
Dangerous Routes and Border Guards
Nine years have passed since the sinking of a fishing vessel off the shores of the city of Rashid in Beheira governorate in September 2016, which was carrying between 450 and 600 irregular migrants and claimed the lives of more than 204 people. Egyptian authorities said they had succeeded in closing the door on irregular migration boats departing directly from Egyptian shores to Europe via the Mediterranean, relying on security measures that rights advocates argued were accompanied by violations against individuals charged with smuggling and human trafficking, who were held in pre-trial detention for years.
Halim Haneish, human rights lawyer and consultant at the Refugees Platform, holds that Egyptian authorities have succeeded since the Rashid vessel incident of 2016 in limiting the departure of irregular migration boats directly from Egyptian shores. This file has remained one of the most prominent messages the Egyptian government delivers to its European partners as evidence of its success in controlling borders and preventing migration flows.
He explains that the state relied in recent years on what he described as the “militarization of borders,” through reinforcing security presence and developing military camps and monitoring centers in coastal areas such as Matubas, Burj Mugheizel, and Kafr el-Sheikh, areas historically known for fishing activity and the departure of some migration journeys. Despite this, Haneish considers that the authorities’ success in preventing boats from moving along Egyptian shores does not necessarily mean addressing the crisis of irregular migration or reducing its root causes.
He told Zawia3: “Egyptians are still among the nationalities most frequently arriving on European shores via the Mediterranean, despite the tightening of surveillance inside Egypt,” noting that the desire to migrate has not diminished but its routes have changed, with Libya becoming the main transit point for Egyptian migrants.
He explains that the Libyan route carries doubled risks compared to direct departure from Egypt, as the danger is not limited to crossing the sea but extends to the land route inside Libyan territory, given the security vacuum, the spread of militias and armed groups, and smuggling networks. He notes that migrants may be detained by militias or smugglers who demand ransoms from their families in exchange for their release, while others face detention and deportation if stopped by official authorities.
Egypt ranks second in terms of numbers of irregular migrants via the Mediterranean sea route and the land route to Europe, with approximately 7,938 migrants recorded from January through December 2021, particularly to Greece, Malta, and Italy, according to a study by the Strategic Forum for Public Policy and Development Studies “Diraya.”
Egyptians rank second on the list of migrants to Europe via the central Mediterranean basin region, which encompasses Tunisian and Libyan shores, a route described as the most dangerous. Libya ranked first in the number of migrants heading to Italy since the beginning of 2024, according to reports from organizations concerned with irregular migration.
On the question of European cooperation with Egypt on migration, the human rights lawyer holds that the European Union focuses primarily on preventing migrants from reaching European shores, by supporting North African countries financially and politically to serve as border guards. In this context, he points to the recent economic partnership agreement between Egypt and the European Union, which includes a multi-billion euro funding package that prioritizes halting migration flows more than addressing the violations or human losses associated with them.
He holds that the Egyptian government is using the irregular migration file to secure external financial support, while the economic and social causes that drive young people to leave the country and risk their lives at sea are not adequately addressed. He argues that official strategies for combating irregular migration focus more heavily on security deterrence and preventing departure, without offering fundamental solutions to the crisis.
In recent years, the European Union has intensified its cooperation with Libya and Egypt on combating irregular migration, through support for coast guards and border management programs, funding a project worth 80 million euros in 2022, covering equipment and training. In March 2024, Egypt and the European Union signed the “Strategic and Comprehensive Partnership” agreement worth 7.4 billion euros, which included 200 million euros allocated to support migration management, anti-smuggling efforts, and enhanced border surveillance.
However, these policies face increasing rights-based criticism, with international organizations, including Amnesty International, arguing that the focus on closing borders and deterring migrants pushes them to take more dangerous routes and increases their dependence on smuggling networks, without addressing the economic and social causes that drive thousands of young people to risk their lives.
From Egypt’s Villages to Libya’s Prisons: The Minors Lost Between Smugglers, Silence, and Extortion
Libya as an Alternative Transit Point
Libya is a major hub for migrant smuggling networks due to its geographic location and proximity to European shores, compounded by political division and the spread of armed militias since 2011. UN and human rights reports indicate that thousands of migrants are subjected to widespread violations inside Libyan territory, whether during detention or during sea crossing attempts, including killing, torture, sexual violence, and human trafficking.
Migrant smuggling networks contribute to expanding the phenomenon, exploiting the fragile security situation in Libya and the growing demand for migration. These networks operate within cross-border structures comprising brokers, intermediaries, and smugglers, while many smuggling operations evolve into patterns of human trafficking involving forced detention, extortion, torture, forced labor, and sexual exploitation.
Tarek Lamlum, researcher on migrant and asylum seeker issues in Libya and director of the Benghazi Center for Migration Studies, explains that finding decomposed bodies inside irregular migration boats is no longer an exceptional incident but has become a recurring feature of the Mediterranean migration landscape. He notes that many sinking incidents or disappearances of boats pass undocumented or undiscovered, something that recurs regularly in journeys launched on dilapidated vessels overseen by smugglers and human traffickers.
He explains that some smuggling networks previously took relative care to provide a minimum of journey essentials, such as fuel or life jackets, but recent months have seen what he described as “reckless” groups entering the smuggling market, comprising individuals who previously worked alongside smugglers and who cooperate with elements linked to security agencies or coast guards to facilitate boats departing from informal points without basic equipment.
He told Zawia3: “Migrants are sometimes forced onto boats against their will, despite the promises they receive about the availability of life jackets or a safe crossing plan,” explaining that engines failing hours after departure lead to the exhaustion of water and food supplies, followed by the gradual death of passengers from hunger and thirst. He adds that some earlier testimonies indicated that smugglers would throw bodies into the sea one by one as the death toll inside the boats mounted.
The Benghazi Center director holds that these incidents reveal the deliberate indifference on the part of bodies responsible for sea surveillance and migrant rescue, accusing some coast guard agencies in Mediterranean countries, including Libya, Greece, and Turkey, of ignoring distress calls or dealing violently with boats to force them back.
He adds: “The responsibility for search and rescue does not rest with Libya alone but also encompasses European Mediterranean states such as Italy and Malta, which possess extensive maritime surveillance capabilities but focus on deterrence and prevention policies rather than protecting migrants’ lives.”
He holds that tightening surveillance on Egyptian shores has effectively limited the departure of boats directly from Egypt, but has driven thousands of Egyptians, including a growing number of minors, to use Libya as an alternative transit point, despite the doubled risks this entails. He affirms that Libya, given the security division and spread of armed groups, cannot be considered a safe migration route, noting that migrants face the risks of drowning, kidnapping, detention, and extortion there.
He believes that closing safe routes pushes migrants toward more dangerous paths through Libya, adding that a migrant who could previously have departed directly from Egypt is now compelled to cross more complex and dangerous overland and sea routes inside Libyan territory.
He also points to the growing phenomenon of unaccompanied Egyptian minor migration, noting documented cases of children between 10 and 15 years old who entered Libya alone in preparation for attempting to cross to Europe, alongside the growing participation of women in migration journeys, citing cases of Egyptian mothers who lost their children in drowning incidents while some family members survived.
58% of irregular Egyptian migrants are children under the age of 18, according to a report by the National Committee to Combat Irregular Migration and Human Trafficking.
Lamlum affirms that migrants are subjected to repeated detention and kidnapping operations by smuggling networks and armed gangs active near the Libyan-Egyptian border, particularly in the Musaed border area. Some migrants, even after paying the full cost of the journey, are held in warehouses or informal detention facilities before their families are demanded additional ransoms for their release, with detention sometimes lasting months.
He continues: “Migrants who are returned from the sea to Libya, particularly in the western regions, are sometimes subjected to fresh extortion and kidnapping operations, in the absence of any legal guarantees or actual protection, compounded by the limited capacity of the Egyptian embassy and consulate to access all detention facilities or prisons inside Libya due to the complexities of the security situation.”
He accuses security bodies and unnamed elements linked to coast guards and armed groups of direct or indirect involvement in facilitating smuggling operations, arguing that human trafficking in Libya is no longer merely an individual activity but has become an organized and far-reaching system that has grown stronger since 2011 and become more entrenched and widespread over time.
Regarding the file of missing migrants, he explains that Libya lacks a precise database documenting the numbers of missing or drowned migrants, particularly Egyptians. He notes that some boats disappear entirely without any trace being found, while some families avoid reporting the disappearance of their children, either out of fear of social stigma or holding onto hope that they are still alive, despite years passing without any communication.
Recommended reading: Migration Dreams: Dangerous Routes Traveled by Children from Egypt’s Countryside
Security Solutions Are Not Enough
The discovery of decomposed bodies of migrants inside a rubber dinghy off the Marsa Matrouh coast reflects the continuation of irregular migration across the Mediterranean, despite the tightening of security measures and coastal surveillance over recent years, according to Dr. Ayman Zohry, president of the Egyptian Society for Migration Studies, who holds that the attempt to cross the Mediterranean in a rubber dinghy reflects migrants’ poor awareness of the scale of risks associated with these journeys, particularly given the nature of the Mediterranean and the difficulty of navigating it during certain periods of the year.
He argues that the core of the crisis is linked to the continuation of economic and development imbalances between the countries of the North and South, alongside the political crises and armed conflicts that push growing numbers of people to seek opportunities or more stable conditions outside their home countries. North African countries, including Egypt, have come to play a dual role as both areas of origin for irregular migration and transit zones on the way to Europe.
He told Zawia3: “The phenomenon of irregular migration in Egypt has been ongoing for nearly three decades, and the scope of the governorates and villages that export migrants is gradually expanding, which reflects the scale of the economic and social pressures on young people. What encourages more young people to take the plunge is the spread of migration success stories.”
Although Egyptian legislation on combating migrant smuggling and human trafficking includes deterrent penalties, particularly after the amendments to the anti-irregular migration law issued in 2016, Zohry affirms that tightening penalties leads in turn to a rise in the cost of smuggling services. He notes that some young people pay between 400,000 and 450,000 Egyptian pounds ($7,692.31 to $8,653.85) for the journey, as a result of increased risks and security pressure, affirming the difficulty of dismantling smuggling networks because they are responding to existing demand for irregular migration services.
He adds: “The security and legal approach, despite its importance, is not sufficient on its own to stop the phenomenon, given the continuation of economic pressures and the weakness of opportunities available to young people.” He adds that the informal economy still constitutes an important mechanism for absorbing part of the labor force and alleviating labor market imbalances, arguing that work in this sector may represent a temporary alternative for young people until economic conditions improve and more stable opportunities become available.
The society president links the escalation of the phenomenon to labor market imbalances, explaining that the Egyptian economy receives approximately one million new entrants to the labor market each year, while generating only around half that number in job opportunities, whether through new positions or replacement jobs resulting from retirement. He also points to the poor preparation of young people for the labor market, resulting from the fragility of the educational system over decades and its inability to produce cadres with the skills needed to compete in the modern labor market.
As bodies continue to be recovered and drowning and disappearance incidents repeat themselves in the Mediterranean, irregular migration appears to be far more than a border crisis or a security file. It is a reflection of deep economic, social, and political imbalances that drive thousands of young people, and among them children, to gamble with their lives in search of a better one.
While European governments and transit countries bet on tightening border surveillance and cracking down on migrant smuggling, the repeated incidents and statistics make clear that security solutions have not stopped migration but have pushed it toward more dangerous routes through Libya, where smuggling networks intersect with armed violations and extortion.
