Sep. 24 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Syrian authorities have confirmed this Saturday that the balance of migrants killed due to the sinking of a Lebanese-flagged ship off the coast of Syria has increased to 89.
As confirmed to the SANA news agency by the general director of the Syrian ports, Samer Kobrosli, the rescue services have located at least another twelve bodies in the framework of the operation in the Tartus governorate.
The head of the Al Basel Hospital in Tartus, Iskandar Ammar, has reported that the authorities are still immersed in the procedures to identify the remains of the deceased and deliver the bodies to their relatives. The Syrian state television network, Syria TV, said on Facebook on Friday that several Lebanese families had moved to the site with the support of the Red Cross.
The boat, on which a Lebanese flag was raised, left the town of Minié days ago with more than a hundred people on board, according to the Lebanese newspaper ‘L’Orient le Jour’. Russian and Syrian helicopters have supported the Syrian Coast Guard and local fishermen in search and rescue efforts.
Sources cited by the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and informants in Syria have detailed that the majority of the victims are of Syrian, Lebanese and Palestinian origin.
Rescue efforts continue in the area after some survivors indicated that the boat would carry some 150 people. The Syrian Ministry of Health issued an alert on Thursday to medical personnel and the emergency system, which is monitoring the rescue, which has been complicated by high waves in the area.
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