On a sandy beach in one of the many inlets dotting Egypt's Mediterranean coastline two men are standing off to one side watching us interview families whose children have been trafficked into Europe. Eventually the taller of them begins to jump in.
He starts shouting and explaining why he works on the smuggler boats carrying the human cargo into Europe. "What does the government do for us? We're fishermen but there's nothing to catch."
The village, Burj Mughayzil, is essentially a smugglers' village. By their own count 2,000 young men and boys have disappeared. Some as young as 11 and 12, they are lured by the European dream -- but so many of them either end up in Italian jails accused of crewing the smuggling ships or killed in the crossing.
We were hoping somewhere on the beach to find a crewman on a smuggling ship, someone who had made the journey and returned. We found two; the tall man and his slimmer friend, who told us they were a ship's mate and a captain.
When I asked if they'd talk on camera they agreed. To our surprise they both asked to show their faces and to give their names.
Human trail of misery 9 photos
"I just want to know what happened so I can mourn him, rather than sitting here between life and death," Ibrahim's mother said.
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These fishing boats are used by smugglers to transport thousands of children to Italy's shores. One smuggling captain told CNN that in the impoverished villages in Egypt's north, it's "either smuggle or starve."
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Elbagir talks to 17-year-old Talal. He went to Italy on a smuggler boat last year, but he decided life there was too difficult and came back voluntarily.
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Kareem arrived in Italy five years ago from Egypt, when he was just 12. He now works as a translator and big brother to boys who live in children's homes in the Sicilian countryside.
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Some Egyptian children end up in Rome selling drugs at places like the Termini station. Emanuele Fattori, head of the railway police at the station, told CNN that he and his team have seen evidence of children being used by criminal gangs.
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Mothers in Burj Mughayzil, Egypt, swarm around a CNN crew desperate for possible news of their missing sons. Many desperately poor families in Burj Mughayzil risk their children's lives by sending them to Italy on smuggler boats so that they can earn money to send home. But the risks are great, and the reality is more likely to be death at sea or detention on arrival.
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CNN's Nima Elbagir talks to one mother in Egypt who says she does not know what has happened to her son. Some 2,000 young men are missing from this one village, by their own count. A CNN investigation spent months retracing the children's journey from Egypt to Italy. Speaking to social workers and authorities, children and parents, there is evidence that many of the children were smuggled into Italy by criminal networks who use them for illegal activities.
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This mother has not heard from her son, Sobhi Abdalkareem, for nearly two years. She believes he is in prison in Italy. She wanted CNN to find out when he will be home.
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Ibrahim, 17, has been missing since boarding a smuggler boat to Italy. Italian authorities believe his boat sank with hundreds on board.
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Human trail of misery 9 photos
"I just want to know what happened so I can mourn him, rather than sitting here between life and death," Ibrahim's mother said.
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Human trail of misery 9 photos
These fishing boats are used by smugglers to transport thousands of children to Italy's shores. One smuggling captain told CNN that in the impoverished villages in Egypt's north, it's "either smuggle or starve."
Hide Caption
6 of 9
Human trail of misery 9 photos
Elbagir talks to 17-year-old Talal. He went to Italy on a smuggler boat last year, but he decided life there was too difficult and came back voluntarily.
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Human trail of misery 9 photos
Kareem arrived in Italy five years ago from Egypt, when he was just 12. He now works as a translator and big brother to boys who live in children's homes in the Sicilian countryside.
Hide Caption
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Human trail of misery 9 photos
Some Egyptian children end up in Rome selling drugs at places like the Termini station. Emanuele Fattori, head of the railway police at the station, told CNN that he and his team have seen evidence of children being used by criminal gangs.
Hide Caption
9 of 9
Human trail of misery 9 photos
Mothers in Burj Mughayzil, Egypt, swarm around a CNN crew desperate for possible news of their missing sons. Many desperately poor families in Burj Mughayzil risk their children's lives by sending them to Italy on smuggler boats so that they can earn money to send home. But the risks are great, and the reality is more likely to be death at sea or detention on arrival.
Hide Caption
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Human trail of misery 9 photos
CNN's Nima Elbagir talks to one mother in Egypt who says she does not know what has happened to her son. Some 2,000 young men are missing from this one village, by their own count. A CNN investigation spent months retracing the children's journey from Egypt to Italy. Speaking to social workers and authorities, children and parents, there is evidence that many of the children were smuggled into Italy by criminal networks who use them for illegal activities.
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Human trail of misery 9 photos
This mother has not heard from her son, Sobhi Abdalkareem, for nearly two years. She believes he is in prison in Italy. She wanted CNN to find out when he will be home.
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Human trail of misery 9 photos
Ibrahim, 17, has been missing since boarding a smuggler boat to Italy. Italian authorities believe his boat sank with hundreds on board.
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Human trail of misery 9 photos
"I just want to know what happened so I can mourn him, rather than sitting here between life and death," Ibrahim's mother said.
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CNN has retraced the route traveled by the children from small villages on Egypt's Mediterranean coast, across the sea to Sicily by boat, then making their way to the Italian capital, Rome, where they fall victim to drug and prostitution rings. Thousands of children are risking their lives, falling prey to traffickers, for the dream of a better future for them and their families.
Captain Mahmoud and Mohammed told us: "We work the ships. Me and a crew of 15 people. If the [Egyptian] government was helping us in any way we wouldn't be crossing in any way."
The trips can take up to nine days on the open seas. The Egyptian Government says it has increased its vigilance along the coastline but still the smugglers are finding ways out.
Sometimes he says, 20 boys are crammed on a tiny fishing boat fitted with an onboard motor, so they can be brought out to sea where he and his crew wait on a bigger boat which holds up to 600 people.
'It's risky for the boat and for everyone on it. We could be sentenced to 25 years or be executed if anything happens, God forbid, to anyone on board if it becomes a death trip."
He also risks years in an Italian jail on the other side and a 15,000 euro ($17,000) fine for every single person on board. The fine can stretch into the millions, Italian authorities say.
It's a risk he knowingly takes. Though, the captain says, leaving him and his men "to rot in jail," is not the solution.
"There are big fish and there are small fish. The small fish are the ones who are in Italian jails. The big fish live freely here in Egypt, freely in Italy."
Many of the parents claim it is the children themselves who want to go -- but teens we spoke to in Italy say their families expect them to work once they get to Europe and to send money home. Others admit Europe is seen as a way of earning the family much-needed cash but they say they didn't know about the trafficker gangs behind the smuggling routes. Yet others say they were deceived by the smugglers who make empty promises of opportunity across the Med. Authorities in both countries are clear, they say the parents are guilty -- at the very least -- of abandoning their children.
Where have all the young men gone? 05:00
The smugglers, Captain Mahmoud says, are very brazen.
"We leave here at dusk, dawn, whenever. It doesn't matter if you know you are risking jail anyway. We'll have been paid -- us and the crew - 10,000 Egyptian pounds ($1,300) each. That feeds a crewman's family and kids for a month. Then after that, who knows? Risk it again or die of hunger."
Egyptian minors have been flooding into Italy by the thousands according to the Italian Ministry of Labor, taking advantage of Italian laws that grant state protection to those under 18 who arrive in Italy unaccompanied. It's not just the passengers that are underage though; his crew often is as well. Captain Mahmoud says they are pressured by their families.
"People here in this village, they're selling their kids. They think, 'we're 10 [people] and we can't find enough to eat. When we're nine, we can eat a little better. If we're eight, we can eat even better still. If two get locked up? Better than we all die together.' All the people in Italian jails? They're the victims of the parents here who can't afford to eat."
I asked if they felt a responsibility for the people making the crossing, for those who have died.
"How can we not?" he said. "If anything happens to them, it happens to us. If the ship sinks we drown together."
His tall friend, Mohammed, talks over him, "How can we not be sad? These are our cousins, our brothers. I still see their faces."
At the end of the interview Captain Mahmoud asks again if we're going to broadcast this, if his government will see this. I tell him, yes, we will. Good, he says. Let them hear the truth.
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