Death toll from sunken Lebanon migrant boat rises to 86

Death toll from sunken Lebanon migrant boat rises to 86
September 24, 2022, 10:16 am

A member of the Lebanese Red Cross holds a stretcher as he waits with his colleagues to receive dead bodies after sinking of a migrant boat which according to Lebanese and Syrian officials sank off at Syrian coast after sailing from Lebanon, at the Lebanese-Syrian border crossing in Arida, Lebanon September 23, 2022. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir

The death toll from a migrant boat that sank off the Syrian coast after sailing from Lebanon earlier this week has risen to 86, Syrian state TV said on Saturday (Sep 24).

The Syrian transport ministry has quoted survivors as saying the boat left from Lebanon's northern Minyeh region on Tuesday with between 120 and 150 people onboard, bound for Europe.

A Lebanese source in the port of Tripoli in northern Lebanon told dpa that the boat, which was carrying some 120-171 migrants from different nationalities including Lebanese and Syrians, had left Miniyeh near Tripoli on Tuesday (Sep 20) for the Greek coast.

"They were aiming to reach Europe ... People are desparate; They want to leave Lebanon because the living conditions are unbearable," Ahmad Tilawi, a relative of one of the boat victims, said from Tripoli.

There were reported to be around 45 children on the boat, none of whom had survived, Lebanese transport minister Ali Hamiye said Friday (Sep 23).

Hamiye said the boat was "very small" and made of wood, describing such sailings as an almost daily occurrence organized by people who did not care for safety.

Lebanon's deteriorating economic situation has led many Lebanese, Syrian and Palestinian refugees to try and reach Europe illegally, risking the perilous sea route in the hope of better conditions.

Last year Lebanon saw a spike in the number of migrants using its shores to attempt the perilous crossing in overcrowded boats to reach Europe.

Death toll of migrants off Syrian coast has risen to more than 71

In April, the sinking of an overcrowded migrant boat pursued by the Lebanese navy off the northern coast of Tripoli killed dozens of people, sparking anger in the country.

On September 13, Türkiye's coastguard announced the death of six migrants pushed back by Greek forces, including two babies, and rescued 73 people trying to reach Europe off the coast of the southwestern province of Muğla.

They had reportedly boarded from Tripoli in Lebanon in an attempt to reach Italy.

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