Palestinian migrants drown after boat capsizes in Mediterranean

ALEXANDRIA, Egypt, Sept. 14 (UPI) -- Over a dozen Palestinians who fled Gaza died Saturday when their boat capsized in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Egypt.

The Egyptian military said that the navy removed 15 bodies from the sea off the coast of al-Ajami, near Alexandria. Seventy-two other people of Palestinian, Egyptian and Syrian nationality were also fished from the water after a distress call was made from a vessel called the "Abu Othman."

Authorities told Egyptian news agency Ma'an News that the Abu Othman was headed to Italy, but the ship was believed to have hit a rock upon departing from shore.

The Palestinians on board had used underground tunnels to escape from Gaza, where Israel's 50-day military operation in July killed over 2,000 civilians and displaced another 10,000.

In October last year, Sicily declared a state of emergency in response to the amount of migrants using overcrowded, unsafe boats to enter Europe from worn-torn areas of North Africa and the Middle East.

During that same month, 12 migrants drown and another 116 were rescued from the sea after their boat capsized near a port in Alexandria. Of those rescued, 72 were Palestinians.