The search continued in a tense climate on Monday off the coast of Lebanon, where around thirty people are still missing after the sinking of a migrant boat on Saturday evening.
The body of a woman was found, bringing the number of victims of this tragedy to seven.
"(His) body was found today on a beach in Tripoli," said the director general of the port of this major city in northern Lebanon, Ahmed Tamer, adding that rescue operations were continuing.
According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), at least 84 people were on board the boat which left the Qalamoun region, south of Tripoli, before sinking three nautical miles (approximately 5.5 km) from the Lebanese coast.
So far, 48 people have been rescued, according to the Lebanese army.
Most of the migrants are Lebanese, but the boat was also carrying Syrian and Palestinian refugees, according to the same source.
30 people are still missing, according to the UNHCR.
The circumstances of the sinking are still unclear: survivors accuse the Lebanese navy of having intentionally rammed their boat with their vessels, while the authorities claim that the captain of the boat hit the patrols himself in an attempt to escape .
“They wanted to find refuge in a European country, where people feel sorry for themselves.
Here, people are killed,” lamented Abdelkarim Dandashi, who was awaiting news of his relatives present on board the shipwrecked boat, at the port of Tripoli on Monday.
"If you don't starve (in this country), you die at sea," he added.
Lebanon, land of departures
Lebanon, once a transit point for asylum seekers from the region, has become a country of departure following an unprecedented economic crisis that has caused hyperinflation and plunged millions into poverty.
"The economic crisis in Lebanon has led to one of the most massive waves of migration in the country's history," said Mathieu Luciano, director of the office of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Lebanon, on Sunday evening. in a press release.
According to the UN, at least 38 boats carrying more than 1,500 people have illegally left or attempted to leave Lebanon by sea since 2020. Since January, at least three boats carrying 64 illegal migrants have left Lebanon, and two have been intercepted before their departure, according to the same source.
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Tripoli, one of Lebanon's poorest cities with a history of sectarian violence, has been hit hard by the economic crisis.
On Saturday, after the tragedy, one of the main roads leading to the port city was cut off by protesters.
On Sunday evening, a video posted on social networks showed the Minister of Energy, Walid Fayad, attacked in a Beirut street before being violently pushed against a wall by an angry man, denouncing the living conditions in the city. Lebanon.
#Lebanon: Energy Minister Walid Fayad attacked pic.twitter.com/F9VtXeuBf3
— Azmani Mouhieddine (@AzmaniMouhieddi) April 24, 2022
Another video, also widely shared on social networks, shows a banner hung in front of a luxury yacht moored in Nice (Alpes-Maritimes), belonging to the Prime Minister, Najib Mikati, on which it is written: “The inhabitants of Tripoli are murder by the owner of this yacht”.
We have to support each other -Najib mikati.
pic.twitter.com/TC2ONIQlPr
— Karim (@thesweetlifeofK) April 24, 2022
With a fortune estimated at 2.7 billion dollars, according to Forbes magazine, the politician from Tripoli is perceived by many in Lebanon as one of the symbols of a power accused of corruption and nepotism, and suspected of illicit enrichment.
