On Sunday, the Lebanese army revealed information about the sinking of a boat off its coast, killing at least 6 people, while a survivor spoke of a patrol boat colliding with the boat twice before the latter sank.
The Commander of the Naval Forces in the Lebanese Army, Colonel Haitham Dhanawy, announced that the boat that sank is 48 years old, as it was built in 1974, and it is a small boat with a length of 10 meters and a width of 4 meters, with a permissible load of only 10 people.
Dhanawy confirmed, during a press conference held in the Naval Operations Room, that the boat did not carry life jackets or life collars, adding: “We tried to prevent them from setting out, but they were faster than us… We tried to explain to them that the boat was at risk of sinking.”
He pointed out that the load of the boat did not allow him to move away from the shore, noting that the people in charge of the boat “were not convinced of our members who suffer the same suffering, and the captain of the boat took the decision to carry out maneuvers to escape from the sentinel in a way that led to his crash.”
Six migrants, including a child, died when a boat sank off the coast of Lebanon, where the army is still trying to find survivors after rescuing around 50 people.
Irregular immigration increased by sea from Lebanon, which is suffering from an unprecedented economic crisis. But sinking immigration boats are rare.
The boat left Saturday from the Qalamoun region, south of Tripoli, the largest city in northern Lebanon, with about 60 people on board, whose nationalities were not specified.
On Sunday, the Lebanese army recovered the bodies of five migrants after the body of a girl was recovered on Saturday, bringing the total number of dead to six, according to a provisional toll of the Lebanese News Agency.
So far, 48 people have been rescued, according to the latest official figures.
The army said in a statement that the boat sank shortly after leaving Qalamoun due to overcrowding and bad weather, but one of the survivors said the boat sank after the army chased it.
“A patrol boat hit our boat twice,” he told AFP in the port of Tripoli, before the families of survivors asked him to shut up and took him away.
In addition, the military said that a man suspected of being involved in transporting irregular migrants had been arrested.
On Saturday, Minister of Public Works and Transport Ali Hamiya said that about 60 migrants were on board the boat.
The Director of Tripoli Port, Ahmed Tamer, confirmed that the army continues to search for survivors.
The army closed the port and allowed only Lebanese Red Cross ambulances to enter and leave.
He visited Hamit Al-Mina after the accident and expressed his regret for the “great catastrophe that befell Lebanon as a whole.”
Calls also spread on social media to demonstrate, on Sunday, in front of Prime Minister Najib Mikati’s home in Tripoli.
Relatives of people on the boat were waiting outside the port, hoping for news.
“This happened because of the politicians who forced the unemployed Lebanese to leave the country,” said a man waiting for news of a relative outside the port.
Lebanon, with a population of about 6 million, is witnessing a serious financial crisis, as the lira has lost more than 90 percent of its value and the majority of the population is now living below the poverty line.
Many residents, as well as international organizations and foreign governments, blame the crisis on the Lebanese political class, which has remained the same for decades under accusations of corruption and incompetence.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees says that at least 1,570 people, including 186 Lebanese, left Lebanon or attempted to leave irregularly by sea between January and November 2021.
Most of the irregular migrants head to the island of Cyprus, a member of the European Union, which is 175 km from the coast of Lebanon.
The number of these migrants in 2019 reached about 270, including 40 Lebanese.
Most of those who try to leave Lebanon by sea are Syrian refugees, but the number of Lebanese among them is increasing, according to what was quoted by “AFP”.