Passengers sleeping on a migrant boat, adrift between Greece and Malta. (Photo provided by Michel Hallak/L'Orient Today)
BEIRUT — A four-year-old Syrian child, who was aboard the stranded migrant boat that was rescued off the coast of Greece on Wednesday, died while being transferred to a Greek hospital, according to L’Orient Today’s correspondent.
The mother of the child, who was being transported in the same ambulance, is in critical condition, L'Orient Today's correspondent reported.
The boat departed from North Lebanon on Saturday and was stranded for days near the Greek and Maltese coasts. The passengers were rescued by Greek authorities and then transported to Greece.
Prior to the boat's rescue, The Associated Press reported the deaths of three children aboard the ship, but L'Orient Today's correspondent, who spoke with family members of the passengers, could not confirm deaths.
Destination: Italy or Germany?
Abou Ayman al-Moshmshani, 62, told L'Orient Today that his son, daughter-in-law and five grandchildren were on that boat, along with another of his grandsons. "They were rescued and are now in Greece. Those who are sick have been hospitalized and the others are being questioned by Greek authorities. We have no further news because we have not yet been able to communicate with them."
He said that of the roughly 60 passengers, about 20 are Lebanese, all from his village of Bebnine, in Akkar. Two Palestinians were also on board, and the others were all Syrians. The boat reportedly came from Syria, with a Syrian captain, who took everyone on board at the border with Lebanon.
The passengers were all hoping to get to Italy to stay there or to enter Germany, Moshmshani said. He doubts they will be repatriated to Lebanon. "In general, once they land in Europe, they stay there," he said.
He says that it was financial "misery" in Lebanon that pushed his son and his family to take this risk. "Here, he was earning less than LL100,000 a day, which is barely enough to buy bread for his family. He has a sick daughter for whom he cannot provide care. We are deprived of everything. He told me: 'I am dead here, I might as well risk my life and that of my family.' In European countries, people are respected."
To get on this boat with his family, Moshmshani's son reportedly had to pay about $16,000, which means he sold everything he could. His father thinks the payment was worth it, although he remains worried: "He paid all that money, but he doesn't have a penny in his pocket. If he wants to call me from there, I don't know if he'll be able to recharge his phone battery. When they were in trouble at sea, I was worried about my son, but especially about his children. Thank God they are all okay."
An ongoing crisis
In April, a migrant boat with dozens of people aboard sank off the coast of Tripoli, North Lebanon, after a Lebanese Army boat intercepted the vessel. Around 40 people were killed, and several more are still missing beneath the sea.
The Indian-owned submarine “Blue Whale,” which arrived in Lebanon in late August to conduct a search for the sunk migrant vessel, left the country without releasing any report on the mission’s findings, lawyer Mohammed Sablouh told L’Orient Today. Sablouh represents some of the victims' families.
Attempts to reach Europe via the Mediterranean have become more common in Lebanon, a country that has been struggling with ongoing economic collapse for the past three years. Lebanese security forces sometimes intercept attempted migrant crossings.
Reporting contributed by Michel Hallak.
