Families mourn death of 71 migrants on capsized boat
Families of 73 people dead as migrant boat capsized off the Syrian coast are mourning death of their loved ones as search operations continued on Friday.
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Syrian authorities began finding bodies off the coast of Tartus on Thursday afternoon. The Syrian Transport Ministry has quoted survivors as saying the boat left from Lebanon's northern Minyeh region on Tuesday, with between 120 and 150 people onboard, bound for Europe.
The family of Mustafa Misto, a Lebanese man who was on the boat with his wife and three young children, were accepting condolences at their apartment in the impoverished Bab Al-Ramel neighborhood of the northern city of Tripoli.
People who feared their relatives were among the dead gathered at the border crossing with Syria, where the bodies were due to be brought later in the day.
Lebanese Transport Minister, Ali Hamiye, said 20 survivors were being treated in Syrian hospitals, the bulk of them Syrians – around 1 million of whom live in Lebanon as refugees.
Palestinians living at a refugee camp in the north said several dozen people on board came from the camp.
Hamiye said the boat was "very small" and made of wood, describing such sailings as an almost daily occurrence organized by people who did not care for safety.
Samer Qubrusli, the Syrian Director-General of Ports, said rescue efforts were continuing on Friday.
The spate of such voyages has been fueled by Lebanon's financial issues in the last three years – one of the worst ever recorded globally.
In April, a migrant boat that set off from near Tripoli sank during an interception by the Lebanese Navy off the coast.
About 80 Lebanese, Syrian and Palestinian migrants were on board, of whom some 40 were rescued, seven were confirmed dead and around 30 officially remain missing.
