Number of victims of the sinking Lebanese boat off Tartous rises, and the involved in the accident is arrested

For the third day in a row, searches continue for the victims of the sinking Lebanese boat off the coast of Tartous Governorate, where a number of bodies were recovered this morning, bringing the death toll to 89 people.

Director General of the Seaports, Brigadier General, Engineer Samer Kobrosli, said in a statement to SANA reporter that a number of bodies were recovered from the beach of the Basira area and Al-Rimal Al-Thahabiya north of Tartus, and that searches for others are continuing.

In turn, Director of the General Authority of Al-Basel Hospital, Dr. Iskandar Ammar, stated  that the death toll has reached 89 people so far, and that the procedures for handing over the bodies to their families after they are identified and are carried out according to the rules.

As for the survivors of the shipwreck who are in the hospital, Dr. Ammar indicated that 6 of them were discharged after providing them with all medical services, and they are in good and stable health. 5 patients were transferred from intensive care to specialized medical departments due to stability of their condition, thus bringing the number of those receiving treatment at Al-Basel Hospital to 14 people, two of whom are in intensive care.

Twenty survivors were receiving treatment at Al-Basel Hospital, in parallel with the continuation of searches for other missing persons.

According to the survivors’ statements, the boat set off from the Minieh area in Tripoli, in northern Lebanon, with the intention of migrating to Cyprus, and carrying people of several nationalities. In a statement on its official website, the Lebanese army announced that the Intelligence Directorate had arrested a citizen suspected of running a network that smuggled illegal immigrants across the sea from the Lebanese coast extending from Arida in the north to Minieh in the south. The arrested confessed to planning  for the last smuggling operation from Lebanon to Italy by sea on 9/21/2022, which resulted in the sinking of the boat off the Syrian shores on 9/22/2222.

Inas Abdulkareem