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 — An Italian rescue operation of 250 migrants who were stuck for multiple days in the Mediterranean waters off Malta began on Tuesday, according to the nonprofit Legal Agenda.
The boat left Lebanon a few days ago from the Abdeh beach in North Lebanon. The passengers on board are of Lebanese, Syrian and Palestinian nationalities.
The boat reportedly ran out of fuel before it reached its final destination in Italy and stopped at sea off the coast of Malta. Passengers then ran out of water and food and were stranded for days amid bad weather and strong winds.
One of the passengers' brother told Legal Agenda that the evacuation process began after the arrival of an Italian rescue boat, stressing that there was no information about deaths among the passengers.
The rescue teams first transferred children, then the adults to the rescue boat and headed to Italy, where they were expected to arrive Tuesday night, according to the passengers' families.
The number of migrant boats leaving the Lebanese shores, especially northern shores, has accelerated with the intensification of the economic crisis.
Six people, including children, drowned earlier this week when a boat carrying migrants destined for Italy sank off the coast of southwestern Turkey, according to the Turkish coast guard. In a statement, the coast guard said a total of 73 migrants from four lifeboats were rescued Tuesday while search and rescue operations continued for five missing passengers.
A migrant boat with dozens of people on board also sank off the coast of Tripoli, North Lebanon, in April after a Lebanese Army boat intercepted the vessel. Around 40 people were killed, with dozens still missing beneath the sea.
The Indian-owned submarine “Blue Whale,” which arrived in Lebanon in late August to conduct a search operation for the sunken vessel, left Lebanon without releasing any report on the mission’s findings, lawyer Mohammed Sablouh, who represents some of the victims' families, told L’Orient Today.
According to data on the Turkish coast guard's website, more than 30,000 irregular migrants were captured so far in 2022, more than double the number in the same period last year.