An image of the migrant boat underwater, shared via the Lebanese Army Twitter page.
BEIRUT — The Indian-owned submarine “Blue Whale,” which last week conducted an operation in search of a migrant vessel that sank off the coast of Tripoli in April, left Lebanon on Monday without releasing any report on the mission’s findings, Mohammed Sablouh, a lawyer representing some of the families of the victims of the shipwreck, told L’Orient Today.
Here’s what we know:
• Sablouh said that the submarine crew had stated that they would release a report with the findings of the mission before leaving Lebanon but had in fact “left abruptly without informing the lawyers following up on the case.”
• Along with a team of lawyers, Sablouh has filed a complaint to the Military Public Prosecutor, calling for an investigation into the sinking to take place and mentioning that the families of the victims are still awaiting a promised report from the submarine mission.
• Survivors of the April shipwreck have claimed the vessel sank after a Lebanese Army boat hit the vessel while intercepting it. However, the Lebanese Army stated that the boat, which had around 85 passengers on board at the time of the tragedy, was overloaded and that this was the cause of its sinking.
• During a press conference on Friday in Tripoli, the captain of the submarine, Scott Walters, said that the submarine crew had observed that the sunken boat was intact, except at the front where they found signs of damage.