A boat carrying dozens of refugees 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 about 60 people on board the boat.
The fate of the other refugees who left by boat was initially unclear. “The search continues,” Hamie said. The Lebanese Red Cross sent ten ambulances to the port of the Lebanese city of Tripoli to respond to the accident.
Repeatedly, refugees from Lebanon try to reach Cyprus, which is 175 kilometers away and belongs to the EU, by boat. Most of these people fleeing Lebanon across the sea come from Syria, the country of civil war, but the Lebanese are also among them in increasing numbers. Lebanon is going through a huge economic crisis.