A submarine found the remains of at least ten migrants who drowned when their boat sank off northern Lebanon in April with an estimated 30 people on board. The circumstances of the boat's sinking remains disputed. It marks the greatest tragedy involving migrants for Lebanon in recent years.
A Lebanese submarine ended its search operation after locating the boat carrying migrants that sank in April this year in the Mediterranean Sea, legislator Ashraf Rifi declared on Monday (August 29).
"The first part of the mission has been completed when the boat was located," the state-run National News Agency quoted Rifi as saying. He added that larger and more powerful equipment is needed to pull out the vessel and that the government should continue the mission.
The three-person underwater craft, a Pisces VI submarine, began searching for the bodies a week ago. It located the wreck on August 24, at a depth of about 450 meters.
The submarine found the remains of at least ten migrants who drowned. According to navy estimates, the 30 people were believed to have gone down with the boat.
Read more: Thousands of Syrian war refugees face repatriation from Lebanon
Why did the migrant boat sink?
The group of migrants, made up of Lebanese, Syrians and Palestinians, had tried to reach Italy by sea. Their boat went under more than five kilometers from the port of Tripoli, following a confrontation with the Lebanese navy.
The circumstances of the boat's sinking are disputed and investigations are ongoing. Survivors say their boat was rammed by the Lebanese navy, while the military alleges that the migrants' boat collided with a navy vessel while trying to escape, the Associated Press (AP) news agency reported.
Lebanon has been suffering severe economic turmoil since late 2019. In recent years, the country has become a harbor for dangerous migration by sea to Europe. The country is home to one million Syrian refugees.
With AP