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Passengers overturn on Syrian coast, at least 15 killed
Officials said eight people were rescued and admitted to the hospital.
Cases of fleeing Lebanon have increased sharply in 2021 and 2022 compared to 2020.
Damascus. A boat carrying passengers from Lebanon capsized off the coast of Syria on Thursday afternoon, killing at least 15 people. Syrian state media reported this. Syrian state TV quoted Syrian Ports Authority chief General Samir Kobrosli as saying that 15 bodies had been recovered and eight people had been rescued and taken to a hospital in the coastal city of Tartus. He said authorities were searching for survivors near the Syrian Mediterranean island of Arvad. It was not immediately clear how many people were on the boat and where they were going.
The report quoted survivors as saying that the boat had left Mina in northern Lebanon a few days ago and that the crew were from different countries. People said that the search operation is going on with the help of local fishermen. Migration to Lebanon has grown rapidly since the 1850s due to one of the world’s deepest economic crises. In addition to Lebanon, many of the people on board the passenger ships are themselves refugees from Syria and the Palestinian Territories. Earlier on Thursday, dozens of people protested in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli to alert authorities that they had lost contact with a passenger ship carrying dozens of people.
The Lebanese military said on Wednesday that it had rescued 55 people on board a damaged boat in the country’s waters, who were brought back to shore. Last April, a passenger ship off Tripoli sank during a blockade by the Lebanese Navy off the country’s coast. About 80 Lebanese, Syrian and Palestinian passengers were on board, of whom about 40 were rescued, seven were confirmed dead and about 30 are officially missing. The United Nations refugee agency told Reuters earlier this month that the number of people trying to leave Lebanon nearly doubled from 2020 to 2021 and increased by more than 70 percent in 2022. The main reason for this is the deteriorating economic situation in Lebanon and its inability to survive.
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tags: syria
First Published: 23 September 2022 00:15 IST
