At least 86 migrants who were trying to reach Europe illegally drowned off the coast of Syria after their boat sank from Lebanon, the official Syrian news agency said on Saturday, according to a still provisional report.
A previous report released Friday by the Syrian authorities reported 73 dead.
According to Syrian authorities, around 150 people, mostly Lebanese and Syrian and Palestinian refugees, were on board the small boat that sank on Thursday off the western Syrian port city of Tartous.
“The number of people who died in the sinking has risen to 86,” Syrian Ports Director General Samer Kbrasli told the Sana news agency on Saturday, adding that 20 migrants were rescued.
Ten children are among the castaways, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Saturday.
It is the deadliest shipwreck in recent years between Syria, ravaged by more than 11 years of conflict, and Lebanon, which according to the World Bank is going through one of the worst economic crises in the world since 1850.
Many Lebanese passengers on the boat come from poor regions in the north of the country, in particular from the city of Tripoli, which has become a hub for illegal immigration in the Mediterranean, especially for Syrian refugees, but also more and more Lebanese.
“The Lebanese population lives in disastrous conditions, but the situation is particularly serious for the poorest people, including refugees,” said UNICEF’s regional director for the Middle East and North Africa on Saturday. , Adele Khodr in a statement.
On Friday, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, deplored “a new heartbreaking tragedy”, calling on the international community to come to the aid of “improve the conditions of people forced to flee their country, as well as those of communities that host them.
“Those who board these makeshift boats […] risk their lives in search of dignity,” said Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner general of the UN agency responsible for aid to Palestinian refugees (Unrwa). “We need to do more to […] help the Lebanese and other peoples of the region to overcome the feeling of despair”.