Cairo: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, International Cooperation, and Egyptian Expatriates is monitoring the incident involving the sinking of an irregular migration boat that was heading toward Greece from a neighboring country on February 21. The boat was carrying fifty irregular migrants, including 21 Egyptian nationals, 18 of whom are still missing, and three have been confirmed deceased. According to State Information Service Egypt, Dr. Badr Abdelatty, Minister of Foreign Affairs, International Cooperation, and Egyptian Expatriates, has instructed the Egyptian Embassy in Athens to intensify its communications with all relevant Greek authorities to follow up on the repercussions of the incident, ongoing search and recovery efforts for the missing. He further directed the embassy to expedite all necessary procedures to repatriate the bodies of the deceased to Egypt. The Egyptian Embassy in Athens continues to receive the families and relatives of the deceased to arrange and finalize the required measures for repatriating the bodies to the homeland as soon as possible. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, International Cooperation, and Egyptian Expatriates once again urges citizens to exercise the utmost caution and vigilance, and to avoid being misled by human trafficking and illegal migration networks, and to completely refrain from traveling through illegal routes regardless of the reasons, in order to safeguard their safety. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, International Cooperation, and Egyptian Expatriates extends deepest condolences and sincere sympathy to the families of the victims of this tragic incident.