Death toll from migrant boat off Syrian coast up to 61: Leb. Minister

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The number of victims of the Lebanese boat accident, which sank Thursday off the Syrian shores, has risen to 61, Lebanese Minister of Public Works and Transport Ali Hamieh said Friday.

A medical source in Tartus indicated that "all the victims were transported by ambulances of the Health Directorate and the Syrian Red Crescent to Al-Basel Hospital in Tartous."

A source in Tartus Governorate confirmed that special rescue teams have been mobilized, such as the Red Crescent, the Health Directorate, and the relevant authorities to follow up on the search operations for the victims of the Lebanese boat, after a number of those rescued informed that the number of individuals who left from Miniyeh beach, a coastal city in northern Lebanon, was more than 120 people, mostly from Syria, Lebanon, and Palestine.

It is noteworthy that the last contact the migrants had with their families was two days ago when they informed them that they had almost run out of food and water, that there was a technical failure in the boat, and that the bad weather conditions and the high waves caused the sinking.

Lebanon, a country of around six million people, is grappling with an unprecedented financial crisis that the World Bank says is on a scale usually associated with wars.

The currency has lost more than 90% of its purchasing power and the majority of the population lives below the poverty line.

According to the UN refugee agency, at least 1,570 people, 186 of them Lebanese, left or tried to leave illegally by sea from Lebanon between January and November 2021. Most were hoping to reach Cyprus, an island 175 kilometers away.

Read: UN: 3,000+ migrants died in sea trying to reach Europe in 2021