The number of deaths in a shipwreck off the Syrian coast reaches 88 from the crash of a ship with migrants off the coast of Tartus.
The number of deaths in a shipwreck off the Syrian coast reaches 88 has risen to 88, the Syrian Health Ministry said on Saturday. “The death toll has risen to 88, and 14 people are still in hospital, including two in serious condition,” the ministry said.
On Friday, the Syrian health minister said that a total of 77 people died in the shipwreck, with another 20 receiving medical care in a hospital. According to Syrian media, the ship left Lebanon to reach Cyprus earlier this week, with Syrian, Lebanese, and Palestinian nationals on board, as well as people with unknown citizenship.
One survivor said the total number of passengers was around 150, according to media reports. The rescue operation started on Thursday. The head of the Syrian seaports administration, Samir Kubrusli, told Syrian Sham FM radio that the Lebanese authorities did not warn Damascus about the missing boat with migrants and contacted Syrian authorities only after the incident.
According to the IOM, there were more than 120 people on board the dingy when the tragic incident took place. A six-month-old baby died hours after he was yanked from the waters in a rescue operation by Open Arms – currently the only active charity rescue vessel in the Central Mediterranean.
The newborn was among the 111 survivors taken by the NGO on Wednesday after it sent rescue units to a rubber dinghy that was sinking off the Libyan coast.
The Open Arms has 257 refugees on board, after three separate operations between Tuesday and Wednesday.
According to the UN agency on migration, this year at least 900 people have drowned in the Mediterranean, some due to rescue delays, while more than 11,000 others have been returned to Libya.
IOM maintains that Libya is not a safe port to return to, stressing that most migrants end up in detention facilities where human rights abuses, trafficking, and exploitation have been widely reported.
We have long called for a change in the evidently unworkable approach to Libya and the Mediterranean, including ending returns to the country and establishing a clear disembarkation mechanism followed by solidarity from other states,” said Soda.
“Thousands of vulnerable people continue to pay the price for inaction both at sea and on land,” he added.
According to the Italian interior ministry data, there has been an uptick in the number of people trying to reach Italy with almost 31,000 refugee arrivals in 2020 so far, compared with almost 10,000 over the same period last year.