The body of a young coast guard is still missing, leading his family to suspect foul-play. The Coast Guard Police has so far not found the body of Mahmoud Mohamed Abdel Aziz, who lost his life in the line of duty as he repaired the engine of his craft although two of his colleagues were with when he lost his balance and fell off the craft. This has led his family believe that their some was a victim of homicide. The Coast Guard Police report No. 582 mentioned that while Mahmoud and criminal investigation recruit Mustafa Ahmed were patrolling the river off the Cabinet Club at night, an unexpected malfunction occurred, prompting the victim to take off his jacket and dive into the river to try to fix it. He removed a sheet of plastic that was stuck in the engine but when he restarted the engine he lost his balance and fell back into the river. Attempts by Patrol Officer Abdul Hamid Badawi to save him had failed when he was sucked to the bottom of the river by the strong current. Upon notification of the accident Major Khalid Youssef of the Operations Department rushed to the scene of the accident at 3 am and since then the victim s body has not been recovered despite attempts by the Coastal Guard Police who searched for him in the Nile from Al-Qanatir Al-Khairiya all the way to Maadi. His family say that their son was a very good swimmer who was awarded several decorations for excellence and question how they couldn't find the body in the area the body disappeared where the river is not deep. The family also complained from neglect by the Interior Ministry which has refused to give them a death certificate or any financial compensation especially since his family is living below the poverty line and the victim was their only breadwinner following the death of the father some time ago. Ironically Mahmoud's elder brother had also drowned off the Libyan coast while attempting to enter Italy a year ago, but while his body had arrived and was buried, Mahmoud's corpse in Egypt has not yet been recovered until now. For his part, the victim s cousin Tamer Adel called on the Interior Ministry to take some action, especially because the recruit has an impressive track record as attested by his file and the testimonies of his colleagues at work. Mahmoud does not deserve to be ignored in this way. Shouldn't he be treated as a martyr who must be honored? Does he not deserve an investigation into his suspicious death? Was there someone involved in his death that the ministry does not want to disclose? We demand that officials look for the killers and bring them to trial immediately, Tamer said as his eyes glistened with tears.
