A boat carrying dozens of refugees has capsized off the coast of Lebanon. “45 people were rescued,” Transport Minister Ali Hamiee said on local radio last night. The body of a child was also recovered. There were around 60 people on board the boat.
The fate of the other refugees who had set sail by boat was initially unclear. “The search continues,” said Hamie. The Lebanese Red Cross sent ten ambulances to the port of the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli to respond to the accident.
Again and again, refugees from Lebanon try to reach Cyprus, which is 175 kilometers away and belongs to the EU, by boat. Most of these people fleeing from Lebanon across the sea come from the civil war country Syria, but Lebanese are also among them in increasing numbers. Lebanon is suffering from a massive economic crisis.