At least 77 migrants drowned off the coast of Syria after their boat from Lebanon sank, the Syrian Minister of Health said on Friday September 23, speaking on this shipwreck, the deadliest in recent years at the start. from Lebanon.
This country is increasingly becoming a starting point for illegal migrant boats since the outbreak in 2019 of a serious economic and financial crisis caused by decades of mismanagement and corruption of a ruling class almost unchanged for decades. .
According to Syrian television, around 150 people, mostly Lebanese and Syrians, were on board the small boat that sank off the western Syrian port city of Tartous on Thursday. Among those rescued are five Lebanese, Lebanese Transport Minister Ali Hamie said. Palestinian refugees from the Nahr el-bared camp in northern Lebanon were also among the victims, according to camp officials.
“We are dealing with one of our biggest rescue operations,” said an official from the Syrian Ministry of Transport, Sleiman Khalil. “Relatives of victims came from Lebanon (…) to identify the dead there”said Ahmed Ammar, a health official in Tartous.
Many Lebanese passengers on the boat are from poor areas in the north of the country, including the city of Tripoli. It has become a hub for illegal immigration, with most migrant boats departing from its shores.
Among the survivors, Wissam al-Tallawi, a father living in Tripoli and originally from Akkar, another poor region in northern Lebanon, was hospitalized, said his brother Ahmad. The bodies of his two daughters, aged five and nine, were flown back to Lebanon and buried on Friday, Ahmad said. The wife of Wissam al-Tallawi and his two sons are still missing.