At least 53 migrants have drowned and dozens are lacking after their boat sank off the coast of Syria, officers say.
More than 120 other people — principally Lebanese and Syrians — are believed to had been on board the small boat that capsized on its solution to Europe.
Lebanese Transport Minister Ali Hamie mentioned on Friday that 19 other people were rescued close to the Syrian port town of Tartus.
Thursday’s tragedy may be the highest-ever dying toll for a migrant crossing from Lebanon.
“I am discussing with the Syrian transport minister a mechanism to recover the bodies in Syria,” Hamie informed AFP, including that rescue efforts had been nonetheless underway.
In April, dozens of other people had been killed when an overcrowded migrant vessel sank off the coast of Tripoli, prompting standard anger.
Lebanon has noticed a spike in migration amid a deepening financial disaster.
The quantity of people that attempted to go away Lebanon via sea just about doubled in 2021 in comparison to the former 12 months, consistent with the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR).
Rare migrant sea rescue off the coast of Bulgaria
Bulgaria’s inside ministry mentioned on Thursday that 38 migrants, together with 8 youngsters, had been rescued within the Black Sea via the rustic’s coastguard.
The workforce — from Syria and Afghanistan — had been noticed in bother all the way through a hurricane on their solution to Romania, officers mentioned.
It is the primary time since 2014 that migrants had been present in Bulgarian territorial waters, consistent with Anton Mirkov, director of the regional border police.
“The boat was seven to eight metres long and ran out of fuel,” he informed newshounds.
Bulgaria lately despatched round 300 squaddies to its 259-kilometre border with Turkey to make stronger a barbed cord fence.
Pressure on migration within the EU nation has risen after two cops had been killed via a bus sporting migrants final month.
Greek coastguard searches for lacking migrants
The Greek coast guard has additionally mentioned that it’s on the lookout for six migrants reported lacking off the southeastern Aegean island of Leros.
Officials say that 49 migrants had been discovered “in good health” on an island seaside however that “their inflatable boat was found destroyed at sea”.
Survivors mentioned that “a total of 55 people were on board the boat,” the Greek coastguard added in a remark.
The majority of the migrants are from Somalia, Sierra Leone and Uganda.
Another rescue operation was once additionally underway close to the southwestern the city of Pylos at the Greek mainland.
The coastguard says that 85 migrants “in difficulty” had been rescued via a shipment send and oil tanker within the space. The survivors had been transferred to the within sight port of Kalamata.
