Members of the Lebanese navy transport people aboard a boat in the port of Tripoli on Oct. 31, 2021. (Photo credit: Twitter/@Lebarmy)
BEIRUT — The army stopped a group of irregular migrants who were intending to set out from the northern Lebanon border village Arida by sea Monday night, L'Orient Today's correspondent in the area reported. All passengers on the boat were reportedly arrested, with judicial investigations underway.
Last week, Italian authorities rescued 250 people who had left the Abdeh coast in northern Lebanon aboard an irregular vessel and had been stranded for days in the Mediterranean Sea.
The boat had reportedly run out of fuel before it reached its final destination of 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.
Another boat also sank off the coast of Tripoli in April with about 60 people on board, killing several passengers and leaving dozens missing.
According to data on the Turkish coast guard's website, more than 30,000 irregular migrants have been found by authorities so far in 2022, more than double the number in the same period last year, as the economic situation in Lebanon worsens.
Reporting contributed by Michel Hallak