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MIGRATION

Seventy Lebanese migrants stuck aboard broken down boat


Seventy Lebanese migrants stuck aboard broken down boat

A Lebanese navy ship takes the family members of migrants missing since a boat sank in April on a tour of an area where a submarine was being prepared to search for the wreck of the boat off the Lebanese coast of Tripoli on Lebanon Aug. 22, 2022. (REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir)

BEIRUT — Seventy Lebanese migrants are stuck aboard a broken down boat off the Maltese and Italian coasts, MP Ashraf Rifi (Independent/Tripoli) tweeted Sunday.

Here’s what we know:

   • Rifi appealed to Italy, “a friend of Lebanon” to rescue them and demanded that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Lebanese Embassy in Rome take quick action.

   • According to L’Orient Today’s correspondent, a number of the migrants' relatives tried contacting the Lebanese authorities for assistance, stressing that the migrants' situation is very difficult, with children and pregnant women aboard the vessel without food or water.

   • A migrant boat sank off the coast of Tripoli, North Lebanon, in April with about 60 people on board, killing several passengers and leaving dozens missing.

   • The Indian-owned submarine “Blue Whale,” which arrived in Lebanon in late August to conduct an operation in search of the migrant vessel that sank in April, left Lebanon on Monday without releasing any report on the mission’s findings, lawyer Mohammed Sablouh, who is representing some of the families of the victims of the boat, told L’Orient Today.


Additional reporting by Michel Hallak. 

BEIRUT — Seventy Lebanese migrants are stuck aboard a broken down boat off the Maltese and Italian coasts, MP Ashraf Rifi (Independent/Tripoli) tweeted Sunday. Here’s what we know:
   • Rifi appealed to Italy, “a friend of Lebanon” to rescue them and demanded that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Lebanese Embassy in Rome take quick action.
   • According...