According to the health minister, 71 migrants’ remains have been discovered after the boat they were on capsized off the coast of Syria.

In the Syrian city of Tartus, twenty survivors are receiving medical care.

The 120–150 passengers who were on board when the boat sank on Thursday were believed to include Lebanese, Syrian, and Palestinian nationalities, including women and children, according to officials.

The accident’s root cause remains unclear. Efforts are being made to save people.

Officials further stated that the ship had left Minyeh, which is a town close to Tripoli, a port city in Lebanon.

The boat is said to have been sailing toward Europe when it capsized.

About 30 miles (50 km) north of Tripoli is where the survivors have been taken: Tartus.

Families of the deceased lament in Tripoli

A family laments in a tiny, gloomy room in an impoverished neighborhood.

Mustafa Mesto, 35, passed away in a Syrian hospital with his wife and her father still in a severe condition. He also left behind two children and a son.

A Syrian Kurd who had escaped his country’s bloody civil conflict was married to Mustafa, a Lebanese cab driver. a single family leaving the destruction of two nations. Dreaming of a better life, they had intended to arrive in Italy.

However, their relatives are now in disbelief, much like those of the other people who perished on this boat.

Adla, Mustafa’s mother, is sitting in the center of a sizable space that is occupied with weeping family members. She sobs aloud and accuses the Lebanese government of her son’s misfortune.

“The deplorable circumstances they left us in, including poverty, drove him to go. These politicians have no interest in our lives. He will never return to me, and neither will his young children.”

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees estimates that Lebanon is home to 1.5 million Syrian refugees as well as around 14,000 foreigners (UNHCR). The greatest proportion of refugees are hosted there worldwide.

More than 80% of the population, however, is struggling to purchase food and medication because to the catastrophic economic crisis the nation is currently experiencing, which is being fueled by Covid-19 and the 2020 Beirut port explosion.

Many of the nation’s migrants are opting to migrate abroad, notably to Europe, as a result of the dire circumstances.

An enormous increase in migrants utilizing Lebanon’s coastlines to reach Europe was observed there last year. Leaving the nation roughly increased from 2020 to 2021, according to UN statistics.

In addition, foreign observers reported that crossings this year had increased by more over 70% compared to the same period last year.

A boat transporting migrants from Lebanon to Europe sunk off the coast of Turkey earlier this month, killing six people, including children. The nation’s coast guard reported saving 73 migrants from four vessels.