Boat carrying migrants from Lebanon sinks off Syria, 28 dead, over 100 missing

A boat carrying migrants from Lebanon capsized off Syria’s coast this afternoon leaving at least 28 people dead, Syrian state media reports.

The incident is one of the deadliest since a surging number of people have tried to flee crisis-hit Lebanon by sea to Europe. In Lebanon alone, tens of thousands of people have lost their jobs and the Lebanese pound has dropped more than 90 percent of its value, eradicating the purchasing power of thousands of families that now live in extreme poverty.

Syria’s state television quotes the head of the Syrian Ports Authority Brig. Gen. Samer Kobrosli as saying that at least 28 people died in the incident. Kobrosli adds that 15 survivors are being treated at the Al-Basel Hospital in the coastal city of Tartus, most of them Lebanese and Syrians, and some without identification papers.

Heartbroken,Syrians escaped Assad security harassment & bombs to Lebanon,so badly treated they got on a death boat to Europe,which sank oppositeTartous So far 20 bodies including children recovered,22 survived the sea to be caught by Assad security,which they had originally fled. pic.twitter.com/2C5FnSNt9c

— Majd khalaf ???????? (@majdkhalaf1993) September 22, 2022

State media quotes one survivor as saying the boat carried over 150 people, which would leave over 100 migrants still missing at sea.