Around 150 individuals, largely Lebanese and Syrians, have been on board the small boat.

Syria:

At least 77 migrants drowned when a ship they boarded in Lebanon sank off Syria’s coast, Syria’s well being minister mentioned Friday, in one of many deadliest such shipwrecks within the jap Mediterranean.

Lebanon, which since 2019 has been mired in a monetary disaster branded by the World Bank as one of many worst in fashionable occasions, has change into a launchpad for unlawful migration, with its personal residents becoming a member of Syrian and Palestinian refugees clamouring to go away their homeland.

Around 150 individuals, largely Lebanese and Syrians, have been on board the small boat that went down Thursday off the Syrian metropolis of Tartus.

“Seventy-seven people have died,” Syria’s Health Minister Hassan al-Ghabash advised state tv from Al-Basel hospital in Tartus, the place he mentioned 20 survivors have been being handled, together with eight in important situation.

Syrian Red Crescent rescuers pull out the physique of a drowning sufferer

Of these rescued, 5 have been Lebanese, Lebanon’s caretaker transport minister Ali Hamie advised AFP.

Tartus is the southernmost of Syria’s predominant ports, and lies some 50 kilometres (30 miles) north of the northern Lebanese port metropolis of Tripoli, the place the migrants had boarded.

“We are dealing with one of our largest ever rescue operations,” Sleiman Khalil, an official at Syria’s transport ministry advised AFP, because the seek for survivors continued.

“We are covering a large area that extends along the entire Syrian coast,” he mentioned, including that top waves have been hampering their efforts.

Russian ships have been aiding in search operations, in line with Syrian authorities.

‘Identify the useless’

Rana Merhi of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent mentioned recognized our bodies could be transported to a border crossing to be handed over to the Lebanese Red Cross.

“Some of the relatives of the victims came from Lebanon… to identify the dead,” mentioned Ahmed Ammar, a Tartus well being official.

Many of the boat’s Lebanese passengers hail from impoverished areas within the nation’s north, together with Tripoli.

The metropolis has emerged as a unlawful migration hub, with most migrant boats departing from its shores.

Rescuers seek for victims and survivors off the coast of Syria’s southern port metropolis of Tartus

Among the survivors was Wissam al-Talawi, a Tripoli resident who was being handled in hospital, his brother Ahmad advised AFP.

But the corpses of Wissam’s two daughters, aged 5 and 9, had been returned to Lebanon the place they have been buried early Friday, Ahmad mentioned.

“They left two days ago,” he added.

“(My brother) couldn’t afford his daily expenses, or the cost of enrolling his children in school,” he mentioned, including that Wissam’s spouse and two sons have been nonetheless lacking.

The Syrian Arab Red Crescent revealed photos on its Facbeook web page displaying volunteers carrying corpses coated in luggage into an ambulance.

Other rescuers have been pictured looking for survivors alongside the coast of Tartus.

‘Humiliating life’

At the Arida border crossing between Lebanon and Syria, dozens waited for corpses to reach.

They included residents of the Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr al-Bared north of Tripoli — which is residence to a number of the useless and lacking.

“I am an old man but if I had the chance to die at sea I would rather do that than lead a humiliating life in this country,” one in all them mentioned from the crossing as awaited information of his lacking niece and nephew.

Since 2020, Lebanon has seen a spike within the variety of migrants utilizing its shores to aim the perilous crossing in jam-packed boats to achieve Europe.

Lebanese mourners carry the physique of one of many victims of the shipwreck throughout his funeral

In April, the sinking of an overcrowded migrant boat pursued by the Lebanese navy off the northern coast of Tripoli killed dozens of individuals, sparking anger within the nation.

The precise circumstances of that incident are nonetheless unclear, with some on board claiming the navy rammed their vessel, whereas officers insisted the smugglers made reckless bids to flee.

Many of the our bodies have been by no means recovered.

On September 13, Turkey’s coastguard introduced the loss of life of six migrants, together with two infants, and rescued 73 individuals making an attempt to achieve Europe, off the coast of the southwestern province of Mugla.

They had reportedly boarded from Tripoli in Lebanon in an try to achieve Italy.

Most of the boats setting off from Lebanon head for European Union member Cyprus, an island about 175 kilometres to the west.

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