Irregular migrants arriving by boat in Lesbos, in Greece, on March 2, 2020. (Credit: Aris Messinis/AFP)
NICOSIA — Cyprus authorities late on Monday and early on Tuesday rescued hundreds of migrants who had left Lebanon and were stranded at sea in two separate incidents, officials said.
Authorities scrambled air and sea assets to a region 203 kilometers west of the eastern Mediterranean island on Monday evening after reports of a vessel carrying more than 300 people.
Commercial vessels were also mobilized and the passengers were safely transferred to a Marshall Islands-flagged vessel sailing in the area, Cyprus's Joint Rescue Coordination Center (JRCC) said in a statement.
Hours later, a second vessel was located in distress south of Cyprus, carrying 177 people.
"The vessel was taking in water and they requested assistance," JRCC Deputy Commander Andreas Zacharia said. The migrants were safely escorted to shore, he added.
On Monday evening, the Lebanese Army stopped a group of irregular migrants who were intending to set out from the northern Lebanon border village Arida by sea, L'Orient Today's correspondent in the area reported. All passengers on the boat were reportedly arrested, with judicial investigations underway.
(Reporting by Michele Kambas Editing by Mark Heinrich)
(Additional reporting by Michel Hallak)