Lebanese military finds 5 bodies from sunk migrant boat
TRIPOLI, Lebanon (AP) — The Lebanese military Sunday recovered the bodies of five migrants whose boat carrying nearly 60 people sank the night before, raising the death toll to six, state media reported.
The National News Agency said the five bodies were found near a small island off the coast of the northern city of Tripoli. It earlier reported that eight bodies were recovered but later lowered the number to five.
Several survivors told local TV stations that the Lebanese navy is to blame for the incident. They said a military ship rammed their migrant boat twice, damaging it, in an effort to force it to return to the coast.
Colonel Haitham Dinnawi, commander of the Lebanese navy, told reporters the migrant boat was old and only capable of carrying six people. He added that no precautionary measures were taken on the boat and no one was wearing life vests.
Dinnawi blamed the captain of the migrant boat for maneuvering to avoid being forced to return back to shore and blamed him for ramming into one of two navy vessels. He showed photographs of the damage on the side and back of one navy boat, adding that the migrant boat sank within seconds after the accident.
“It was a crime to take people on such a boat,” Dinnawi said, adding that it was manufactured in 1974 and carrying 15 times its capacity. He said search operations are still ongoing for the missing adding that they have recovered the bodies of six people so far, including five on Sunday and one on Saturday.
Survivor Mustafa al-Jundi told The Associated Press that the navy tried to stop the migrant boat but it kept sailing.
In the afternoon, angry residents attacked a main army checkpoint in Tripoli, throwing stones at troops who responded by firing into the air. Some shops closed as angry men blocked several streets in Tripoli, Lebanon’s most impoverished city. There were no reports of injuries.
Earlier on Sunday, the Lebanese military announced that 47 people were rescued and the body of a young girl was recovered. The military said high waves submerged the boat, which was carrying more people than it could hold.
Several of the rescued were treated on the spot while others were taken to nearby hospitals. One person was detained on suspicion of being a smuggler who sent the migrants, the military said.
Search operations began Saturday night after the boat, apparently heading to Europe, sank shortly after leaving the coastal Lebanese town of Qalamoun.