About 150 people, Lebanese, Syrian and Palestinian refugees, tried to classify Europe at the time of the sinking of their boat, Thursday.
Le Monde with AFP
At least 86 migrants who tried to classify Europe clandestinely died off the coast of Syria after the sinking of their boat part of Lebanon, the official Syrian official news agency Sana announced on Saturday, September 24, according to a balance sheet still provisional. A previous assessment, communicated on Friday, reported 73 dead.
According to the Syrian authorities, around 150 people, mainly Lebanese and Syrian and Palestinian refugees, were on board the small boat which was sinking Thursday off the port city of Tartous, in western Syria .
The director general of Syrian ports, Samer Kbrasli, said that 20 migrants had been rescued. Ten children are among the shipwrecked, for its part, said on Saturday the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
Many Lebanese passengers of the boat are from poor regions of the north of the country, among others of the city of Tripoli, which has become a hub for illegal immigration to the Mediterranean, especially for Syrian refugees, but also more More Lebanese.
the deadliest shipwreck of recent years in the region
This is the deadliest sinking in recent years between Syria, ravaged by more than eleven years of conflict, and Lebanon, which crosses, according to the World Bank, one of the most serious economic crises worldwide Since 1850.
“The Lebanese population lives in disastrous conditions, but the situation is particularly serious for the poorest people, including refugees,” the regional director of UNICEF for the Middle East and the North Africa, Adele Khodr.
Friday, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo, deplored “a new heartbreaking tragedy”, calling on the international community to “improve the conditions of people forced to flee their country, as well as those of communities who welcome them “.
“Those who embark on these makeshift boats (…) risk their lives in search of dignity”, for his part, supported Philippe Lazzarini, general commissioner of the UN agency responsible for assistance Palestinian refugees (UNRWA). “We have to do more to (…) help the Lebanese and other peoples of the region to overcome the feeling of despair.”
Following the economic collapse in Lebanon, Syrian and Palestinian refugees and Lebanese tried to cross the Mediterranean aboard makeshift boats to find refuge in European countries, in particular the island of Cyprus, Located 175 kilometers from the Lebanese coast. In April, the sinking of an overloaded migrant boat, chased by the Lebanese navy off Tripoli (North), had killed dozens and caused a lot of anger in the country in crisis.