MAKKAH — Authorities have stropped a boat carrying 31 illegal migrants, most of them Sudanese, from trying to reach the Kingdom. Border Guards spokesman, Col. Saher Bin Mohammed Al-Harbe said the infiltrators were nabbed on Saturday as they were attempting to enter into the Kingdom's waters on a boat. The Border Guards have reported repeated interceptions of migrants in the Red Sea over the past two months. In the latest case a patrol "foiled an attempt by a group of 31 people from different nationalities to enter Saudi waters on a wooden boat," the Border Guard spokesman said. He said the group comprised 20 Sudanese, six Nigerians and five Ethiopians. "They were coming from Sudanese shores," he said, quoted by the official Saudi Press Agency. At least 339 illegal immigrants have been intercepted by Border Guard patrols off the coast since the first half of June, according to figures cited by SPA. The vast majority have been Sudanese, whose impoverished homeland lies less than 300 km from Saudi Arabia. According to the United Nations, since 2014 more than 10,000 people have died crossing the Mediterranean from Africa to Europe, which is experiencing its worst migrant crisis since World War II.
