The boat that sank of the coast of Turkey. (Photo provided by Michel Hallak).
BEIRUT — More than 75 Lebanese were rescued Saturday morning from a sinking boat off the coast of Turkey. L’Orient Today’s correspondent reported that the residents of Tripoli and north Lebanon had been trying to migrate to Europe aboard a makeshift boat.
Here's what we know:
• A European boat heard the passengers’ calls for help, and the rescued passengers are now en route to Spain. The makeshift boat is said to have left Lebanon about five days ago.
• Such emigration attempts — mainly from the north, sometimes foiled by security services — have become commonplace in crisis-swamped Lebanon. On July 18, a Palestinian woman suspected of organizing illegal crossings to Italy and Greece was arrested by State Security in Bir Hassan, a southern suburb of Beirut.
• These attempts sometimes have sometimes ended in tragedy. Last April, dozens of people who left North Lebanon in a makeshift boat were shipwrecked, after which dozens remain missing, angering their relatives. — Reporting by Michel Hallak