Hundreds of people, including many children, have died at sea in search of a better life in Europe, according to Save the Children.
Monsignor Joji Vadakara, Vatican City
At least 24 children died in the latest sea disaster, Save the Children, a children’s rights group, said in a statement. The organization also stated that the number of people leaving Lebanon and trying to reach Europe as refugees has doubled compared to the previous year. This is the second consecutive year of increase.
94 people died in a boat accident in Lebanon on Wednesday, September 21. 24 of them are children. The boat capsized off the coast of Lebanon with 150 people on board. It was the worst accident in the last ten years.
Seven more children died in two other accidents in the month of September. Six people died in a boat accident on the 13th. Four of them were children. Three of the six Syrians killed in another accident on the 12th were children. This year alone, at least 3,500 people have attempted to reach Europe as refugees via the Mediterranean Sea from Lebanon. Most of them are Syrian nationals.
According to another report released by Save the Children on September 27, Syrians seeking asylum in Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon are in dire straits. According to a new report by Save the Children, an organization that has been working in Lebanon since 1953, the situation of Syrian refugees in Lebanon is getting worse due to poverty and discrimination in the country.
Save the Children asked the international community to prepare other better facilities for the resettlement of refugees arriving from Syria and other countries.