The British newspaper "The Guardian" said that thousands of Egyptians are exposing themselves to death by drowning at sea in a new mass exodus fraught with dangers towards Europe.

The newspaper pointed out that poverty has trapped thousands in the grip of human smugglers who carry out a deadly trade in the Mediterranean.

In a report by its correspondent in Istanbul, Ruth Michaelson, the Guardian claimed that increasing numbers of young Egyptians are "fleeing" from their country, which is suffering economically after the Egyptian pound lost more than a third of its value against the dollar this year alone, along with high inflation rates that caused a sharp rise in The cost of living as the state sinks more into debt.

The latest official statistics on the poverty rate in Egypt, in at least 3 years, estimated that nearly a third of the country lives below the poverty line.

According to the British newspaper, it was President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi who led austerity measures that drove a deep gulf between state-backed elites and growing numbers of Egyptian citizens "who are now struggling to get by."

In her report, Michaelson mentioned the adventure of an Egyptian young man in his twenties to immigrate to Italy via Tobruk in Libya.

She added that the young man - whom she called Youssef - was concerned about the high cost of living in Egypt, so he contacted a human smuggler via the Internet to help him reach Europe by sea.

Youssef stated that the boat trip took 4 days between Libya and Italy, saying, "It seemed as if life was receding in front of me."

He went on to say that he was earning two thousand Egyptian pounds (about 66.5 pounds sterling) a month as a driver, before he decided to leave the country, leaving his wife after 3 months of marriage, because he felt "suffocated and wanted to escape in order to work in Italy, so that he could send money." for the newborn who is awaiting his arrival.

The Guardian quoted human rights lawyer Mohamed Al-Kashef - who works as an expert for the "Watch the Med" initiative to save migrants from drowning - as saying that more Egyptians are arriving in Europe "because of the economic and political situation" in their country.

He continued, "These are the ordinary people who remained far from hope, who are not part of any political movement and who believed the government's promises over the years until the value of the currency exceeded 20 Egyptian pounds against the dollar."

The EU Asylum Agency says that 45,207 Schengen visas to enter Europe legally were issued at EU consulates across Egypt last year, meaning that 3 out of 4 applicants obtained a legal means of entry.

These figures also represent less than a third of the Schengen visas issued annually to Egyptians in the years leading up to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The newspaper attributed the revival of smuggling routes - which were also previously thriving - to the release of prominent members of the smuggling networks who were imprisoned by the Egyptian state at least 5 years ago, following a series of boat disasters between 2015 and 2016 that left hundreds of people dead off the country's northern coast.

Experts say the chief smugglers have now served their prison sentences and are back in the only profession available to them.

According to the Guardian, large fishing boats that could have been used for legitimate business are now being used to transport people across the Mediterranean.

The newspaper's reporter Michaelson met a Libyan human smuggler named Haji Mohamed, who revealed to her that he and his brother had long been organizing trips for potential migrants for 120,000 Egyptian pounds (4,000 pounds).

It should be noted that last October the European Union signed a deal with Egypt, the latest in a series of agreements with it, aimed at reducing migration.

This time, the Federation provided Egypt with a grant of 80 million euros, in support of the Egyptian Coast Guard and Navy, in order to stop the flow of people towards Europe.